Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Expanding?
We are thinking of finishing our garage. If we do we will probably make the half bath into a full bath and add a bedroom. The rest of the space will expand our family room. We are wondering if it will decrease the value of our house to get rid of the garage. We never use our garage for our car. We basically only use it for storage, but I remember thinking it was good to have a garage. What do you think? Is a garage a big selling point over another bedroom(on the entry floor) and 2 full baths (instead of 1 1/2)? It would definitely work better for us at this point, but we are not sure if we want to stay in this house much longer. It is a big expense to undertake without being sure it's definitely what we want and it wouldn't depreciate the value of our house.
8 comments:
That's a tough decision to make. I would research to see how houses sold in your area without garages. We,personally, LOVE having a garage but would consider a house without one. Good luck deciding!
It IS a big expense if you aren't going to stay there. Personally, I'd ask a Realtor who is familiar with the houses in your area. If your house goes up for sale at the same time as one that HAS a garage, you're probably at a disadvantage. I'm going to guess a realtor would advise you not to do it.
We are having similar issues (on a much smaller scale) deciding what to do and not do to our house. I'd like to take out the bathroom vanities upstairs and in the powder room and put in pedestal sinks, but everyone keeps telling me people looking at these houses will WANT the under sink storage because storage is at a premium in these townhouses anyway. So I'm torn between what I like cosmetically and what is best for resale. Argh.
That's a tough call. I know that the garage townhomes in our neighborhood sell for 10-15K above the non-garage ones, even though the non-garage townhomes (like ours) have an extra potential bedroom. Are there any other homes in your neighborhood with a converted garage? That could be a clue as to whether there is a demand for that. It's tough to upsize in this market though, so I understand the need to convert the space.
I agree about the asking a realtor part.
But you could also consider putting in a good sized shed for storage if you have space. That may help since (total random opinion here) most people don't put their cars in their garages.
Jay was thinking of building a much bigger shed than we have now including putting in a workshop area. We will definitly be adding to our outdoor storage if we do the extra room.
I think it may be different depending on what part of the country you live in. I'm in Minnesota and we would not have even considered buying a house without a garage (my husband even said no to any garage that wasn't attached to the house). But that is because it is below freezing here for basically 5 months straight and I wouldn't want to scrape all the ice and snow off my car every day. We even heat our garage (to around 40-45). But if those weather issues are not a problem where you live and you can provide a safe place to park cars, maybe the extra finished square footage is a bigger bonus to a potential buyer.
I think it all depends (ditto to everyone here). If the conversion is done reall well, I would think that having extra bedrooms/bathrooms would be worth more than a garage (especially with outside storage space.) I remember you having a big yard in some earlier pic, so I would think it would appreciate the value as opposed to depreciating it. If the conversion isnt done well (and obvioulsy who knows what the contractor will do!) then it will look like a closed in garage and could cause some depreciation. So basically I put in a whole long comment that does not help you in any way.
LOL- I'm so glad I asked for your advice;-) Seriously though, it did give me some things to think about.
Michelle, I live in the middle of the east coast. Almost all the houses on our block have garages and I've only seen one family actually use theirs for a car.
JL- You are right about it looking professional. I'm not sure how to know who will do a good job and who won't. Any advice on that?
I think we have decided that if we do change it this house will meet our needs much better and we won't be moving as soon. We like our neighborhood and the schools, so there really isn't a reason to move except to go bigger and newer. Right now we really can't afford bigger or newer!
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