Why do so many new homes FEATURE a garage? (Houston: real estate, cheap house)

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

My grandparents custom built house in FL, built in the 1960s, has the same garage in front configuration as does every house in their neighborhood (also 60s).

you're right. This style has been around for much longer than the current crop. Stylistically, I disagree with our grandparents and would have opted to push the garage to the back if they wanted to show any stylistic features of their house.

[irishlover]

Check out Pulte's Cinco line up...all garage front layout...all over $200k...crazy!

Cinco Ranch-Sierra Collection | Katy TX New Homes | Pulte Homes

[AK123]

I agree the front garage style can be ugly from the front.
But like others have said, this isn't really a new thing. I see plenty of subdivisions with homes from the 60's, 70's and 80's that have the front garages too.
When we found a new home that was one of the few in the neighborhood with the detached back garage, we snapped it up right away. They do seem to be harder and harder to find.

[Malvie]

To the OP: Sorry, but that "Garage in front" is the norm in most of the rest of the country for most of the 2nd half of the 20th Century.

Dallas has a different twist on the garage deal---they flip the house plan, and have the same arrangement you don't like--big garage--in the BACK, opening off an alley. This sounds good--but the result is that you drive home through an ugly, crowded alley with blind corners and high fences, to hit your garage door opener and get into your little slice of heaven--and the only time you ever see that actual front of your house is if you do your own yard and go look at it.

Oh, and because the driveways are so short, many people wind up parking their extra cars (because many families have multiple cars, and most everybody in Texas has a garage that is effectively a "storage room") in the street in front of the house, which is not only tacky but dangerous.

Having lived in Texas a lot of my adult life, I was shocked when I moved to Nashville, TN and found that (at that time) a garage was an "optional item", you bought the house and lot. If you want a driveway, you have that paved. Or you can gravel it. Or blacktop it. If you want a garage, you buy that. If you want a yard, you have that put in. I thought it weird.

In MOST of the southeast (including East Texas), for decades they built carports instead of garages. Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama---lots of carports. Nice ones, built into the house or as a part of the original design, but carports nonetheless.

Me? I live in the Ashford area, due in part to the fact that I, too, prefer the HOUSTON way of doing it--detached garage, in the back, with a long driveway from the street to get to it--which means most of the nieghborhood parks their multiple cars in the driveway as opposed to the street.

I like houses built in 1976! (the year mine was built)

[Liljo22]

Originally Posted by Lost_In_Translation

Alot of Florida was built in the last 20 years by cheap developers.

I am 32 and always had an attached growing up. This goes back to houses built long before I walked the earth. And construction in Florida in the last 15 years is far from cheap. Some of the major hurricanes in that time has made building codes much stricter.

[HtownLove]

The Op actually posted a pic of one of the better ones. This one you can see the front door and a bay window, the lawn is well cared for, and the front yard is well landscaped. Most times all you see is a garage, some concrete driveway and a rotting tree blocking the view of the rest of the house.

also what is Houston's phobia of windows all about?

My aunt's 4 bedroom house has only three windows. Two bedrooms have windows and there is a tiny one in the kitchen.

[elnina]

Not all houses have the garages so prominently at the front of the house. In some older neighborhoods you will find garages build behind the house, even on smaller lots.
I agree that a garage as a main feature at the front of the house makes the house looks ugly.

[GettaClue]

I'm personally a big fan of swing-in garages, as opposed to detached or front-facing. They're an efficient use of space and much nicer to look at, IMO.




Builders could do a lot to help the front-facing aesthetics if more of them used two separate doors with a more decorative surround, instead of a plain and essentially flat (i.e.: pressed panel) double-wide door. Even something as simple as this makes a noticeable difference:

[elnina]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

The Op actually posted a pic of one of the better ones.

yep! It could be worse. Like that:

Photographing a House That’s “All Garage” – Putting Theory To The Test | Point2 Agent Real Estate Marketing Blog

[houstonfan]

I won't buy a house without an attached garage. I love the convenience of unloading my stuff into the house and the neighbors don't have to see what I'm unloading or loading, multiple trips are easier than having to get to the detached garage. I like that late at night, if I have to get something out of my car, I can be in my PJs and nobody will see me. Same goes with getthing everything else that is in the garage like garden tools, balls, junk. I also like that on a rainy day, I don't have to get myself wet getting to and from the car. I don't care if the the garage is in the front or side, as long as it's attached. I also think if the rest of the house is balanced with the size of garage door, it's esthetically pleasing.