Garages... buying a house

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D0ughB0y

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I've been looking at a lot of houses lately and one of the top things I'm looking for is either an over sized 1 car or a two car with no center posts.

I've looked at roughly 40 houses in the last month and if they have a decent garage, the rest of the house is below par. Some have really small rooms, some have less than desirable lots, some just need too much damn work.

With all of the houses, I'm thinking that there has to be one out there that will be reasonable for what I'm looking for. I've got a pretty good price range and I'm seeing houses that are 'close' to being right, but none of them really have spoken to me.

There's one house that has rooms on the smaller side, one bathroom, but it is perfectly maintained. All new stuff (heat, central air, stove/fridge/dishwasher), the walls are in perfect shape, newly refinished hardwood floors. Two car garage with a gas heater, fully insulated, no center beam, slop sink, huge work bench with tons of shelf space. Nice pool with privacy fence. Double sized shed up off the ground with electric.

The house is in the upper portion of my comfort zone (which by everyone's standards is way below what I "should" be buying or can afford). It is a great house. It has everything I want other than a basement... but for some reason I'm balking on putting in an offer.

Is this crazy?
 
nah, but why does it have all that new stuff? and why no basment? did things flood?
 
purgeofdarkness said:
nah, but why does it have all that new stuff? and why no basment? did things flood?
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No flood damage.

All the new stuff, the hardwood floors, because they want to sell the house. With over a year of inventory on the market, if you don't have updates the house is either not going to sell or it is going to sell for considerably less. The guy does all the work himself. The Fridge is a little older, but the dishwasher and stove are 3 years old.

No basement where this house is built, just crawl space. Most of the houses in that area are all 1960's era houses built on slabs.
 
If you're not excited about the house, don't bid. You'll "pop" when you find the right house, don't rush it. I'm on my second house now, my first house I bought when I was 25 took me looking at about 30 houses before I found "the" house and I knew it when I walked in. A few years later I bought my second house and same thing, looked at a bunch of houses and realized the one I wanted when I went in.

If it helps, make a list of must haves and deal breakers...just don't do it if you're luke warm about the house...especially if you're at the top of where you want to be budget-wise. Good luck!
 
I was looking at houses just the other day. I am a little ways off from being able to get a house but the garage was a major deal breaker for me when looking at them online. Dont bid unless you like the house. If you are in no time crunch then just wait it out
 
If you're handy, and if you're on this site you must enjoy working with your hands to some extent, a fixer-upper might be what you need anyway. Home repair isn't that difficult, I bought a $20 book and learned as I went. Some things I hired out, but I watched the guys and learned from them.

I can't tell anything about you, but if you don't have a family to complicate things, you can gut and re-do a house the way that you want. If your lot and codes allow it you could always build a detached garage just the way that you want it.

I bought a house in serious disrepair but in a good location and had no qualms tearing into it, new kitchen, custom lighting, etc. After several years of part-time work I had a great house that also gave me a great education on home repair. Soon after I finished I met the woman that became my second wife, and we built a new house keeping the old one as a rental. Over the next few years the value of the home doubled and when we sold it the sale put more cash in my pocket than I had originally paid for the house.

I'd put emphasis on basic structural integrity and location than anything else.

Good luck with the search.
 
Congrats on taking the dive into buying a house. Don't know if this is your first house or not, but I purchased my first house 2 years ago. And I must say that my gf and I looked at probably 100 different houses before we found the one we have now. It was a very stressful experience, however it was fun. We started off looking at houses that were in the lower price range and soon realized that for what we wanted we were going to have to spend more. Like you we had a list of "wants" and a list of "needs". In the end we settled for a house that had all of our needs and a few of our wants. We do have a 1 car garage but it's on the smaller side.

Like others have said if your not fully confident that you want the house don't bid on it. You'll just end up regretting it. Especially if you spend the at the top of your budget and your just settling. When we found our house we knew we wanted it as soon as we walked in.

It can be a long and stressful process but keep looking. Something will come up that you really like. You may need to settle on some thing that you want, but if your not comfortable making an offer than don't.

Good luck!
 
Something you may want to keep in mind is if you can't find a home that has the garage with your desired specs , purchase a home without a garage and build it to suite your needs. The home without a garage will be at a cheaper price and may be easier to get at your price. Designing your own work space would be a big plus.
 
We have a basement, and kitchen down there, theater room and all, can not say we use it a lot.

Had a client dig a basement put in an elevator, bathroom, and even a theater room, he uses it in the summer, and football game time..

Unless the basement has a walk out area, it should not be a big deal...like pools time is limited for their use in the real world.

I like the lake in the AM and evening when the bass are hitting best of all,..I am with you on the 3 car garage, good lighting, and no support post...

Take you time, moving is no fun...
 
No house has everything you want. Stop trying to find the perfect one. There is a big difference between needs and wants. The sooner you figure out your real needs, the sooner you will stop paying rent.

I know a couple who have lived in custom built homes for the last 25 years. They've built SIX of them. Every time they finish building EXACTLY what they want, they find out they should have done something differently.

I know of another couple who have been building their 9,000 sq.ft. home for four and a half years. They've turned their upscale neighborhood into a never-ending construction zone. The neighbors HATE them. Oh, yeah. They are in their 70s which means there is a high probability one or both will be DEAD before they finish.

STOP LOOKING AND FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU CAN LIVE WITH. If you don't, you will keep looking until the real estate market comes back and you'll be priced out of homes half as big as the ones you can afford now.
 
XB70 said:
No house has everything you want. Stop trying to find the perfect one. There is a big difference between needs and wants. The sooner you figure out your real needs, the sooner you will stop paying rent.

I know a couple who have lived in custom built homes for the last 25 years. They've built SIX of them. Every time they finish building EXACTLY what they want, they find out they should have done something differently.
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It's all about the 5-Ps... PrePlanning Prevents Poor Performance. Determining needs and priorities is key.

When I built my shack I wanted more than the budget allowed. The 3-car 900 sq ft finished, insulated garage with heat, drains and hot n cold water was non-negotiable. As was the whirlpool in the Master Bath. After owning houses where neighborhood turnover resulted in undesireable neighbors I built in the country back in the middle of 5 heavily wooded acres. A lot of other things were kept to basics in order to fund the priorities. I doubt that I would have been able to find anything close to the things I thought most important without building.

Anyone that builds will always find things they would have done differently once they live in the house for a while. I wish I would have built a 2000 sq ft garage and 900 sq ft house instead of the other way around! Im the MANStill, if you're detail-oriented and having things the way you want them is important to you there's only one way to get it.

TL <--- no neighbors is good neighbors
 
I grew up in construction, so fixer-uppers are within my view. I'm not really keen on doing any major work (e.g. Lifting a house to replace rotted/termite eaten beams) and I'm considering that gutting the kitchen and bathroom in most places will be required.

I'm a single guy with no kids and a decent income. I really don't have any NEEDS outside of 2+ bedrooms and a single family house. Everything after that is just wants.

I'd really like at least a 1 car garage. I'd also really like a basement to finish into a media room (I'm a techie, computer, gamer nerd). I'd rather not have a pool.
 
D0ughB0y said:
I'm a single guy with no kids and a decent income. I really don't have any NEEDS outside of 2+ bedrooms and a single family house. Everything after that is just wants.

I'd really like at least a 1 car garage.
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Dunno what part of the country you're in but after living with a large garage with some goodies you may find you need it! :xyxthumbs:

If I had to choose between garage or house I'd take the garage with a cot, microwave and bathroom.

TL
 
one thing to keep in mind if you have bad winters where you are is to not have a heated garage. Sounds counter intuitive but unless you lease your cars and return them when they are up, keeping them in a warm garage after they are all wet and salty will rust your underbody real quick.

Better to get a propane heater for those days when you really need to detail your car and let the moisture freeze on the car the rest of the time...
 
embolism said:
one thing to keep in mind if you have bad winters where you are is to not have a heated garage. Sounds counter intuitive but unless you lease your cars and return them when they are up, keeping them in a warm garage after they are all wet and salty will rust your underbody real quick.
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Eggzactly correct. However, having a heated garage allows one to wash the vehicle frequently and get the crap off... including spraying the underbody. Daily if necessary.

TL
 
TLMitchell said:
Eggzactly correct. However, having a heated garage allows one to wash the vehicle frequently and get the crap off... including spraying the underbody. Daily if necessary.
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You guys with drains in your garages kill me. Do you have the oil separator, etc.?
 
embolism said:
one thing to keep in mind if you have bad winters where you are is to not have a heated garage. Sounds counter intuitive but unless you lease your cars and return them when they are up, keeping them in a warm garage after they are all wet and salty will rust your underbody real quick.

Better to get a propane heater for those days when you really need to detail your car and let the moisture freeze on the car the rest of the time...
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That's a great point. We do have some terrible winters here, but that's what my truck is for. I'd keep the car in the garage and the second bay would be a project that I'm looking to start (v8 ranger) with my 4x4 out in the driveway. The heat in the garage comes from a natural gas fed heater that is operated on its own switch and thermostat, so I could keep it off unless I'm in there doing work.
 
embolism said:
All garages have drains in them don't they? Where would all the water go otherwise?
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Yikes, it's highly illegal in most municipalities here in the states to have garage drains at all. A storm drain would be an absolute no-no, while I have heard of sanitary drains being allowed if they have special oil-separation sumps as would be used in a commercial setting (like a detailing shop).

In direct answer to your question about where the water would go: in puddles on the floor. All what water? According to the building department the only water in your garage would be rainwater or snow melt from your car--which according to you the snow shouldn't melt anyway because your garage isn't going to be heated...boy, what a circle we are going in.
 
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