Permit and estimate partial garage conversion. (Castro Valley: for sale, real estate, credit)

[Fishboy510]

I currently have a tandem 2 car garage which I hate because you can barely squeeze 2 cars in there. Anyway I wanted to convert half of it into a room. No bathroom or hvac just an insulated room for my fish tanks and reptile enclosures. Would I need a permit and what would be an estimate on the cost? One wall is already insulated the one connected to the house. The other walls I'm not sure but I assume isn't. House was built in 07. There is already a fluorescent light and 2 electrical outlets in the space. I guess all that needs to be done is carpet, insulate two walls (one already connected to house) and put up another wall (to split garage in half and isolate room).

[Hemlock140]

Yes, a permit is required to move, remove, or add walls, even if no electrical, plumbing, or load-bearing issues. I can tell you what happened when we sold a house in Castro Valley. The garage had been converted when we bought it. When we sold, two different deals fell through because the conversion was not permitted, and could not be permitted after the fact. In both cases the buyer's lender would not approve for their PMI without the permit, but they didn't want it changed back. The problem is that code required off-street parking for two vehicles. Without a long driveway, the garage (1 car) was considered one of those spaces. Eventually we found a buyer with better credit and they got the loan without PMI.

[Fishboy510]

Ok I'm glad you responded because we do plan on moving in maybe 5 years. I think I may just insulate the outside wall and be done with it. I already have seals on the garage door and door leading to the backyard from it.

[tanglenet]

When you enlarge your habitable square footage without permits and it doesn't jive with the county records, if you want to sell, lenders will only lend based on the county records and not on actual square footage.

Here are potential problems: 1, you may not get a permit as it may look like you are creating a granny unit. 2, it you do get a permit, your real estate taxes will go up with the improvement. The upside is that you have probably added value to your house on the cheap.

If it was me, unless I was creating a nice room with a window / door built on the street side to be used as a bedroom, I wouldn't bother with a permit and the expense. And upon listing the house for sale, I would not include the additional sq ft and describe it as an unpermitted bonus room.

Of course, the best advice would be from a local RE attorney.