Convert Garage Into a Bedroom on House in the Triangle? (HOA, neighborhood)

[5Disneyfans]

We like a home in the traingle however we need one more bedroom. We could convert the garage into another room with a bath. This is done in NY & seems to add value to a home. Would this be a good investment in a home in NC or not something that would help for resale? Thanks

[coltank]

Depends on the home, but people here seem to rely less on their garage, as we don't have the harsh winters.

[wheelsup]

I have to wonder why so many people don't use their garage to park their cars in. It seems the majority of people in my neighborhood, as well as many others down here, park their cars outside. Why have a garage if you're not going to park your cars there? That's what it's for. You should see the crap people have piled up in there - it's horrendous. I doubt they've touched it for years.

[adlnc07]

I'd rather have a garage and I've never seen a garage conversion that looked "right." Even if you do just store stuff in your garage, where do you put all that stuff if the garage is converted to a bedroom? Personally, I'd just keep looking for a house that has the number of bedrooms you need..

[PDXmom]

Originally Posted by 5Disneyfans

We like a home in the traingle however we need one more bedroom. We could convert the garage into another room with a bath. This is done in NY & seems to add value to a home. Would this be a good investment in a home in NC or not something that would help for resale? Thanks

Does the neighborhood have an HOA? If so they may not allow this. I personally could care less if I had a garage. But our realtor said most people want a garage when they buy a house (we were looking at the burbs not urban areas which I think are different). So we got a house w/ a garage in case we ever sale. While most people don't park their cars in garages, that is where most people store all the kid gear, sports gear, Christmas decorations etc. With the absence of basements here I think garages are important for storage. Just my 2 cents.

[douknownam]

I'd keep the garage for resale purposes.. but this is the opinion of a fairly new triangle transplant.

[NewUser]

I would never buy a house that didn't have a garage, unless there was room enough on the property to build a detached garage and the price of the house was low enough to offset building the new garage. We keep both of our vehicles in the garage, as well as our lawn equipment/tractor, and I also have a garage workshop.

The guy next door to me has a 4-car garage, I have a 4-car garage, and now the guy on the other side of me has "garage envy" and he's planning to add another garage to bring his total up to 4-car also.

[senalj]

It would really depend on the HOA rules (if there are any) and if you expect to be able to resell quickly. While NC doesn't get the harsh winters, I've noticed that some homes don't have a lot of closet/storage inside, so people use their garage for storage (in addition to their cars, there are seasonal decorations, items in boxes they don't know what to do with, lawn care equipment, etc.). As such, you may find you won't be able to resell as well as some of your neighbors who have a garage. I personally wouldn't buy a house without a garage, but I'm sure there's a buyer out there who doesn't care one way or another.

[MI-Roger]

People will pay more money for a house with a garage, then use it to store miscellaneous stuff with minimal (if any) monetary value while they park $30,000 to $70,000 worth of depreciating value automobiles in the driveway or street.

Park your cars inside people! Slow the inevitable decline in your auto's values, and stop accumulating worthless junk.

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

Originally Posted by adlnc07

I'd rather have a garage and I've never seen a garage conversion that looked "right."

I agree. They usually stick out like a sore thumb and I think converting a garage to room hurts the value in most cases or at least limits the number of people who will consider your house an option when looking to buy. I've seen some nice homes with converted garages lanquish on the market and have often wondered if the converted garage is the reason. I would only do it if you plan to live in the home for a very long time and resale is not an issue.