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Is a garage a non-negotiable for you when house hunting? It sure is for me.
Even when I was in an apartment, only buildings with garages were even considered.
I'd never buy or rent a house with no garage. (Not if I could help it.)
My days of cleaning snow off the car, or parking on the street (at home) are over.
As the thread title says, I just continue to marvel at the number of people who have garages but don't park in them. Either:
-- they enclose the garage for more living space, OR
-- have so much junk, uh, have so many belongings they need the garage for storage. Some garages are packed to the door. You can't even step inside.
Obviously in Florida, I suppose people don't need to worry about snow. But in parts of the country that get snow people are freezing, leaving their wipers up, heating up their car......while I go to the garage, press the opener to lift the door, and pull right out.
And just as convenient, when I leave something in the car and need to go back to get it, I don't have to get fully dressed to go outside do it.
Our last house didn't have one, well it did, it was made into a large family room by the original owner. We have a double garage in our now home, I back my car in so that I can open the car door easily. It's nice to get into the garaged car in the summer and winter but I would gladly park outside if I had to. My hub doesn't park in the other side because he has an F150 that doesn't fit; so it has his riding mower.
Our neighbors do not park in either side of their double garages. We also all have basements, some are finished with a storage space but apparently that's not enough for the neighbors so they use the garages.
Garages are very useful in Florida and other southern states too as summer temps get parked cars into the 110 degree mark. But many older Southern homes either have no garage or a small garage that won't fit current cars (KIA's maybe) or it's been turned into living space. We travelled to Mesa AZ in August a few years ago and our van in hotel lot reached 120 degrees!! We heard later that people a/c their garages there.
No I would not buy a home without a decent 2 car garage. Our winter project is to clean out our 2 car garage from accumulated "stuff" and make it beautiful for potential house sale in next year or 2. I think "2 car garage" is as important to buyers as "updated kitchen" is.
We park on the driveway because we use the garage for:
Storage of seasonal items, as our house is small, has limited closet space, and an attic that is completely lacking in storage space.
The pool table, which doesn't fit in the house.
Hunting, fishing, camping, etc storage.
Workbenches with cabinet storage for tools, supplies, etc.
Storage of stuff we've inherited, but haven't or don't want to sell or get rid of.
Not sure why anyone would care why a neighbor doesn't park cars in a garage. As for being able to run to car in a state of undress, that doesn't work with detached garages.
I don't park in my garage. Technically I probably could, but the doors are not your typical garage door. They are two wooden doors that meet in the middle, like a gate, and one has to manually open and close them.
Also the entrance is so narrow, one would have to be really careful driving in. Too much work on a daily basis! Would only do it if leaving for an extended amount of time and leaving my car behind.
Instead, my garage is a storage space. I store bags of leaves to be taken to the dump, yard tools and stuff like that in my garage.
Is a garage a non-negotiable for you when house hunting? It sure is for me.
Even when I was in an apartment, only buildings with garages were even considered.
I'd never buy or rent a house with no garage. (Not if I could help it.)
My days of cleaning snow off the car, or parking on the street (at home) are over.
As the thread title says, I just continue to marvel at the number of people who have garages but don't park in them. Either:
-- they enclose the garage for more living space, OR
-- have so much junk, uh, have so many belongings they need the garage for storage. Some garages are packed to the door. You can't even step inside.
Obviously in Florida, I suppose people don't need to worry about snow. But in parts of the country that get snow people are freezing, leaving their wipers up, heating up their car......while I go to the garage, press the opener to lift the door, and pull right out.
And just as convenient, when I leave something in the car and need to go back to get it, I don't have to get fully dressed to go outside do it.
You're totally in my head with your post! I've marveled at this too. On the rare occasion where we've had to leave our one or more of our vehicles out for a night or two at home, it's really bothered me. Sometimes you have no choice short term....for a few nights, due to a garage grad party, weekend garage sale etc...but on a long term basis, there is likely no excuse other than you're attached to your extra junk a bit to much.
Looking around our neighborhood, where all the houses are large enough for normal family living, it's about 50/50, park the car(s) in the garage, don't park the car(s) in the garage. Seeing the garage doors open in the ones that don't park in the garage....I can tell you, 80% of the time it's JUNK filling the parking space in the garage.
I've always marveled that people will take valuable garage space and fill it with a couple thousand dollars (at best) of junk.....but leave two SUV's, worth 80 grand, uncovered in the driveway suffering everything mother nature can throw at them.
We had one neighbor who always left his cars out and he was a financial advisor at one of the larger well known firms. I always joked with my wife that he'd be the last guy I'd go to see about sound financial advice...lol.
First off, why does everyone assume that whatever is in the garage is "junk?" Obviously the owner doesn't think so. A couple of big reasons why people use garages for storage rather than cars are:
a. Garage is too small, cars won't fit. This isn't just with older homes, but recent home builds as well. In the three different homes we've owned, only one was big enough to actually park in and it was a custom build. The two prebuilt homes had garages that were too short. Maybe you could fit a sub sub compact in there, but not a family vehicle.
b. No basement in the house. A lot of the stuff that's in the garage in our current house was in the basement when we lived in Colorado. Very few basements here in the south.
Well, my garage was probably built around the same time as the house, i.e., 1959, or soon after. it certainly wasn't designed to house a Transit Cargo Van, height-wise, which is why that is parked outside.
First off, why does everyone assume that whatever is in the garage is "junk?" Obviously the owner doesn't think so. A couple of big reasons why people use garages for storage rather than cars are:
a. Garage is too small, cars won't fit. This isn't just with older homes, but recent home builds as well. In the three different homes we've owned, only one was big enough to actually park in and it was a custom build. The two prebuilt homes had garages that were too short. Maybe you could fit a sub sub compact in there, but not a family vehicle.
b. No basement in the house. A lot of the stuff that's in the garage in our current house was in the basement when we lived in Colorado. Very few basements here in the south.
I turned my two car garage into a woodshop. You might call it junk, I call it the tools for my hobby.
Even if I didn't have the garage outfitted as a shop I probably wouldn't park the cars in there. Why bother? It rarely snows, and I would dress for the weather whether or not the cars are in the garage.
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. But in parts of the country that get snow people are freezing, leaving their wipers up, heating up their car......while I go to the garage, press the opener to lift the door, and pull right out.
