Parking in the Street (Terrell, Terrell Hills: HOA, new house, neighborhood)

[saywhat?]

Why don't people park their cars in their garages? We live in a fairly upscale neighborhood but we're the only ones who park our cars in the garage. So there is all this street and driveway parking which isn't all that attractive. We have neighbors who consistently park in front of the fire hydrant. Are garages being used as storage units for a lot of folks these days? Just curious.

[Steel Man]

Depends where you live. In the nice areas, garages are used for storage. In some of the not-so-nice areas, some people also use them for spare bedrooms. We put a shed in back for storage and park two vehicles in our garage.

[majormadmax]

Because new houses don't have much storage space. Plus, garages has shrunk over time, our previous house had a lot more room in the garage. And some of us have a couple of motorcycles, a bunch of mountain bikes and a Jeep in ours. The two other cars have to sit outside. Wanted a 3-car garage, but they weren't available within our time limit...

Cheers! M2

[Eleanor Rigby]

Because new houses don't have much storage space

I find this interesting, because one of the things people have told me as to why they decided to buy a new home or a home in a new development as opposed to an older home is that they feel that the new homes have more storage and closet space.

[Fujifrontier]

wait, so you mean to tell me that those horrid mcmansions they sell nowadays don't have enough space to put all the plastic crap mommy brings home from walmart in her hummer SUV???

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

I find this interesting, because one of the things people have told me as to why they decided to buy a new home or a home in a new development as opposed to an older home is that they feel that the new homes have more storage and closet space.

Our DR Horton house has a lot of potential for storage but the pre-fab roofs meant we got very little space. I am having to hang some shelves from the ceiling of my garage. Plus, we are very used to European houses which had cellars...

Cheers! M2

[Eleanor Rigby]

Huh. That's interesting.

My personal experience on this was a friend refusing to take their mother's house in Terrell Hills because, and I quote, "How can I live without walk-in closets?" - they bought a house in some section of Inwood instead because of the giant closet in the master.

We use our garage for parking the cars. There's a lot of other stuff in there as well, but we're pretty ruthless about twice a year getting out there and rearranging everything and reorganizing. On my street, street parking is banned between 1 and 5 am.

[Chakapu]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

Our DR Horton house has a lot of potential for storage but the pre-fab roofs meant we got very little space. I am having to hang some shelves from the ceiling of my garage. Plus, we are very used to European houses which had cellars...

Cheers! M2

European homes also tend to be much much smaller than American homes. If you are used to European homes, you're not likely to *need* much space for storage!

I thought that was the whole point of the McMansions: more space for all the stuff?

And garages are smaller now??? I find that hard to believe, it's more like cars are bigger and take up more space in the garage, along with more stuff to put in it.

[Chakapu]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

Huh. That's interesting.

My personal experience on this was a friend refusing to take their mother's house in Terrell Hills because, and I quote, "How can I live without walk-in closets?" - they bought a house in some section of Inwood instead because of the giant closet in the master.

We use our garage for parking the cars. There's a lot of other stuff in there as well, but we're pretty ruthless about twice a year getting out there and rearranging everything and reorganizing. On my street, street parking is banned between 1 and 5 am.

Living in a c.1880s home, closets don't exist (my European husband is used to this though, so that helps).

We considered ourselves lucky, however, as the previous owners when enclosing the porch to put in a bathroom, also enclosed a room for laundry and a closet! So one bedroom has a closet, at least.

Our garage is an old carriage/stable (dirt floors, barn-style doors) at the very back of the property. We'd waste a large swath of garden if we were to put in a driveway to make use of the garage for parking cars, even though it's big enough for 2 cars. So instead we're making it a storage/workshed (our current work room for tools and such is DD's bedroom....) and we park our cars at the end of the drive, near the street.

[ddrewa]

Originally Posted by Eleanor Rigby

On my street, street parking is banned between 1 and 5 am.

Sounds nice. Is that an HOA thing? Or a city restriction?