Modern Jess
Well-known member
Hey all, I've posted a couple times, but wanted to formally introduce myself.
My story, in short: I've spent the last six months hunting for a house. Not just any house, but a house with plenty of room for me to work on my projects (which largely consists of building racing scooters). Most of the houses within commute distance of my work are plain ranch-style houses on smallish lots, and don't really have much in the way of garage expansion opportunity, or what I call "shopportunity".
But I persisted, looking at over 800 houses on Redfin, checking the satellite view before even considering any single house. Every hundred or so houses, I would find one with an outbuilding in the back yard. Out of those 8 or so, 2 were decent houses in decent neighborhoods with no insurmountable obstacles. Of those 2, my wife and I tried to buy both (at different times). We failed on the first one (very, very long story -- the owners were not really in a position to sell the house) and closed escrow on the second one.
So now my wife and I are the proud owners of a small, very plain ranch-style house in a nice suburb. It's got a two-car garage, and behind the two-car garage sits another two car garage, completely detached.
w00t!
The shop (I'm calling it the shop) was built with permit back in 1966. It's about 22x22, and it's been a workshop for its whole existence. I'm pretty sure you couldn't get a permit to build it on this lot today due to footprint limitations.
There's going to be a major remodel of the shop... just as soon as we finish the remodel on the kitchen so we can move in. And I've got big plans.
My story, in short: I've spent the last six months hunting for a house. Not just any house, but a house with plenty of room for me to work on my projects (which largely consists of building racing scooters). Most of the houses within commute distance of my work are plain ranch-style houses on smallish lots, and don't really have much in the way of garage expansion opportunity, or what I call "shopportunity".
But I persisted, looking at over 800 houses on Redfin, checking the satellite view before even considering any single house. Every hundred or so houses, I would find one with an outbuilding in the back yard. Out of those 8 or so, 2 were decent houses in decent neighborhoods with no insurmountable obstacles. Of those 2, my wife and I tried to buy both (at different times). We failed on the first one (very, very long story -- the owners were not really in a position to sell the house) and closed escrow on the second one.
So now my wife and I are the proud owners of a small, very plain ranch-style house in a nice suburb. It's got a two-car garage, and behind the two-car garage sits another two car garage, completely detached.
w00t!
The shop (I'm calling it the shop) was built with permit back in 1966. It's about 22x22, and it's been a workshop for its whole existence. I'm pretty sure you couldn't get a permit to build it on this lot today due to footprint limitations.
There's going to be a major remodel of the shop... just as soon as we finish the remodel on the kitchen so we can move in. And I've got big plans.
