Gorge Journal · 259 Three Mile Road · Day 7 of 30
An appraiser working for a lender does not take 6,167 square feet as one number. Under Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, single-family dwellings are measured to the ANSI Z765-2021 standard and above-grade and below-grade area are reported separately. A finished basement is valued, but not as living area. For a large house on 15 acres in a rural market, that split and the thin set of comparable sales are what shape the appraisal.
ANSI Z765-2021 and what it separates
Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, section B4-1.3-05, requires appraisers to use the ANSI Z765-2021 standard when measuring, calculating and reporting above- and below-grade square footage for single-family dwellings, and says the standard “must be used in all other cases for single-family dwellings including townhomes, rowhouses, and detached dwellings.” Output from sketching or 3D scanning software has to conform to it too.
The practical effect for this house: the main and upper levels, including the loft sitting area if it meets the ceiling height rule, are above-grade living area. The finished basement, with its living area, dining area and full bath, is reported as below-grade finished area, valued on its own line. The unfinished storage and workshop section is neither. How much of the 6,167 falls on each side of that line is the first thing to establish.
[MARCOS: the MLS above-grade and below-grade square footage split for 26025260, and the source of the measurement]
A rural market and thin comparables
An appraiser looks for recent sales of houses similar in size, age, construction and land. In Lee County an all-brick house of this size on acreage is rare, so the search widens in distance and in time, and the appraiser adjusts each comparable for the differences. Expect a wider spread of adjustments than you would see in a subdivision, and expect the report to explain each one.
The appraiser also separates the site from the improvements. So does the Lee County Property Valuation Administrator, whose assessment card for the parcel, kept at 667 Tip Top Road in Beattyville, carries its own land and improvement values and its own square footage figure. The PVA number is an assessment, not an ANSI measurement, and it may not match; it is useful as a cross-check and as a dated, sourced data point, which is how this site treats every number: sourced, dated and interpreted.
What a buyer can do before the appraisal is ordered
- Ask for the above-grade and below-grade split and where the 6,167 figure came from.
- Have your inspector or an appraiser produce an ANSI sketch during the inspection period, so the number is yours before the lender’s appraiser arrives.
- Pull comparable sales with your agent and mark each for acreage, construction and finished basement area, so you can read the appraisal against your own file.
- Remember who the appraisal is for. It protects the lender’s collateral. Your own opinion of value comes from the comparables and the walk-through.
On financing: at $1,489,000, a loan above the conforming limit is a jumbo loan, and jumbo lenders set their own appraisal requirements, sometimes two appraisals. This is education, not advice. Talk to a licensed lender about what applies to you, and see our jumbo loan page, linked below, for the questions to bring.
Questions buyers ask
Does the finished basement count in the square footage?
It is reported separately as below-grade finished area under ANSI Z765-2021 and valued on its own line. It does not count as above-grade living area, whatever the total in a listing says.
Will the appraisal come in at the contract price?
No one can promise that, and this site never will. A file with an ANSI sketch, marked comparables and the PVA card gives the appraiser more to work with, which is the most a buyer can do.
Does the PVA square footage matter?
It is an assessment figure kept by the Lee County Property Valuation Administrator, and it may differ from an ANSI measurement. Use it as a cross-check, not as the answer.
The listing and the next read
The property: 259 Three Mile Road, Beattyville, KY, listing page, with the film, the photographs and the details table. Related diligence: our jumbo loan page. Private showings by appointment: call or text Marcos Gil at (859) 310-1209.
Sources. Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B4-1.3-05, Improvements Section of the Appraisal Report, read 28 September 2026. Lee County, Kentucky, County Officials page (leecounty.ky.gov), read 28 September 2026. FlexMLS 26025260, 27 September 2026.