Detached Garage Resale Value

[jm1fd]

I'm thinking about building a detached garage out behind the house to store my RX-7 in, however the quotes have all come back $10k+ for a VERY basic 20'x20' wood frame garage. While that sounds a little high for a basic garage, my larger concern is that, when it comes time to sell the house years down the road, I'll be lucky to get $5k in value add from it. I've searched all over the web and the forum for resale info, and can't find any.

So, anybody know of any studies done on garage/shop resale value? Anybody care to share their experience on the matter?

 

[BoCRon]

Does the house have an existing garage? If so, how many cars does it fit. What is the "norm" for your neighborhood?
If your neighborhood is a 2 car garage neighborhood and that's what your house has, then adding another won't get you much in the way of return. If you are adding to get in line with others in your area, then you are more likely to see it payoff, not make more money, but make your house competitive.
Annette

 

[PAToyota]

I agree, depends on many factors. When I started building my shop I was told time and again that it would have no resale value. Since then, two other houses on the street have added similar large detached garages.

The first thing to consider is market. If you are trying to sell to anyone who comes along, that is what the "market information" is for. My shop probably eliminates 95% or more of the buying public. However, that other 5% that would like to have more than just what the average person thinks of as a "garage" would likely pay extra to buy it.

For me, I'm going to have my shop and enjoy it and not really concern myself with resale value but with what its worth is to me.

 

[twostory]

The answer depends on your neighborhood. If you live in a three bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage area, then you will probably not see you house value go up much. But if your new 2 car garage only cost $10,000, then that is the most you can loose. I used to live in a starter house neighborhood, and I will say I would easily pay 5k to 8k more for house with a 20x20 shop in the back yard.

At some point you are throwing money away and need to consider moving to a more expensive area, and buy a cheaper house relative to everything else on the street. Then, when you spend 10k to 20k on a garage, your sale price maybe the same as the other house on the street. You never want to own the most expensive house in the area, you can never get you money out of the house, due to all the buyer comparing your house to comps on the street.

Now my current house is a 4 bedroom 2.5 bathroom neighborhood, 2,600 sq ft minmum. My house does not have a basement, and cost less than the ones that do. I am building a 26x44 two story garage that will have 2,100 sq ft floor space and a 300 sq ft attic storage area. Will I see my house value increase at sale time? Yes, but probably not as much as I would like. My wife and I are building the garage, so I am only paying for the material, plus one long year of working all the time on the building.

I have a friend that bought a house last year, they looked all over my area for a three car garage. Never found one in a "normal house". You have to buy an "estate house" to get a three car garage. So when I goto sell my house (not for a long time...) I may have to wait a while for the right buyer, but they are there and will pay extra for a house that you can park 6 cars in. My ceiling is 12.5 ft tall, so I could but four storage lifts in my new garage and store a total of 10 cars. Currently I have my RV inside the garage, so an RV owner would love my garage's 11 foot tall door and 44 foot long inside.

 

[jm1fd]

My house is a 2/1/1(attached), and is among the smallest in the 'hood at 800sqft. Some houses have a 2 car attached, more have a 1 car attached. Some have had the garage enclosed, and a 2 car built out back. Some even have the 1 car attached converted to a drive-thru, and a 2 car built in the back yard.

I was thinking that I could probably make a definite positive improvement in value by building a pretty good sized detached garage in the back yard, and then enclosing the attached garage that I currently have. That would increase the square footage of the house with very little cost, thus increasing the value of the house.

Of course the other option is to just leave it alone, sell it, and move somewhere where I can build a garage apartment, and let the rent check pay for it, and then some.

 

[twostory]

Of course the other option is to just leave it alone, sell it, and move somewhere where I can build a garage apartment, and let the rent check pay for it, and then some.

If you do the sell/move/build apt plan, make sure zoning will allow you to build a garage apartment. In my county, this is not allowed. I am not allowed to have any living space in a "detached" building. Now if my new garage was attached with a breeze way, then it is one building. My point is to check what the "planning and development" dept will allow you to do before buying a property.

 

[mjw930]

I'd just love to know where you can get a 20 x 20 built for $10K....

My 22 x 28 detached is costing around $40K and that's bundled into the price of the house with the attached 2 car that's being built along side.

Of course it's block construction built to Florida wind and water codes with a 12' ceiling, hip roof, finished interior, 100 amp electrical, plumbing......

 

[swgray]

http://www.zillow.com/

Check the value of your house (and anybody elses) along with adding upgrades (new kitchen, deck garage, etc.)

Check it often enough and you can watch the value go up and down.
Its sort like watching your 401k value.

 

[ponjohn]

With all due respect- why consider resale value now? You mention years down the road - how many? 2,5,10,20.

10k spent now is so insignificant to overall price of the property unless the property is only worth 10k$ before the garage- see what I mean? The longer you hold the house, the less meaningfull the 10k becomes. The overall value of the property will consume the cost of the garage probably 3 fold.

ANYTHING done to improve a property will not have an adverse effect on the value if it is 1 month or 100 months down the road.

This is all said before I even mention the convenience, joy and use you'll get from the garage.

John

 

[jm1fd]

I'd just love to know where you can get a 20 x 20 built for $10K....

Houston, TX.

That $10k 20x20 is nothing fancy, mind you.

 

[jm1fd]

With all due respect- why consider resale value now? You mention years down the road - how many? 2,5,10,20.

10k spent now is so insignificant to overall price of the property unless the property is only worth 10k$ before the garage- see what I mean? The longer you hold the house, the less meaningfull the 10k becomes. The overall value of the property will consume the cost of the garage probably 3 fold.

ANYTHING done to improve a property will not have an adverse effect on the value if it is 1 month or 100 months down the road.

I'm just trying to maximize the return of every dollar I put into the property. My time horizon is between 2 and 5 years. If it was 10-20 years, then I agree, it is a moot point. But in the next 2-5 years, it is hard to say exactly what the market will do.

 

[jm1fd]

http://www.zillow.com/

Check the value of your house (and anybody elses) along with adding upgrades (new kitchen, deck garage, etc.)

Check it often enough and you can watch the value go up and down.
Its sort like watching your 401k value.

I've played around with Zillow before. They're pretty much on crack when it comes to the Houston RE market.

 

[sizzler90]

http://www.zillow.com/

Check the value of your house (and anybody elses) along with adding upgrades (new kitchen, deck garage, etc.)

Check it often enough and you can watch the value go up and down.
Its sort like watching your 401k value.

Funny, My state is one they don't list yet.

 

[shephd]

http://www.zillow.com/

That would be wishful thinking on my house, but that's pretty good detail on the images. Thanks!

Anyone have any others like zillow that they think are more accurate?

 

[JeepOnRock]

I'm a Realtor, and I specialize in finding houses for people that want "real" garages. Don't expect much of a value bump from the extra garage, unless you are not escaping the neighborhood norms.

The garage MAY be worth a lot to the right person, but you have to market to that person and get them to find you. Basically, what it comes down to is convenience. You may be able to find a house with the right parking combo for you and upgrade for less than the cost of building one. But, that is a PITA, and you might not be able to find the perfect location, etc.

Here in the Atlanta area, I can usually find 4+ car (total) garages anywhere from $150k up. It usually shocks people. In one county (Gwinnett), there are around 50 on the market at any given time. But, that perfect house can be pretty tough to run across. In my neighborhood, there are 4 houses that I know of with multiple garages, and all have values right around $200k. Personally, I'm "stalking" a property around the corner that has a 40x60 shop out back and a 3 car attached... just need them to sell when I can afford it.

 

[oldgoat]

If you are only looking at a couple of years then I don't the investment is worth it usually. Also would the garage take up too much yard space? If it does then it will possibly hurt resale anyway. I know when I built my garage they didn't like the way I positioned it and it did take up a fair amount of the back yard, but I told them and the kids that I was planning a staying here so I wasn't that worried about resale and that it would be the kids problem. It was valuable enough to me and I wanted it behind the house out of sight and so that the breeze would be able to flow through it with the window and garage door open.

 

[red vette mike]

I built this house 27 years ago. It was in the 'country' then although it was in what then was a small town (Madison, Ms). The population then was probably about 2000. Now it is about 23500. My house is on a 3 acre lot and the house is about 3k'. I just added a 1770' garage addition. I really never even considered what this would do to the resale of the property since I plan to be here until the 'end'. (I am 57). The addition matches the house (BV, same roofing, heat/ac, etc) and looks (to me) good. I think there will always be somebody interested in having a nice garage/workshop like I have built. I think there is some increasing interest in the US in having these well equipped garages (there was a feature on AOL on this recently.) I don't know if I will get my fairly significant investment in this garage back or not-and I really don't care. I built it to 'piddle' in and like I wanted it and that was what mattered to me (my wife was a different story but she is coming around.)

 

[nova65ss]

It also depends on how you build it in my opninion. If you build something along the lines of your house and incorporate it into the property it would be better than an inexpensive building that sticks out like a sore thumb. Alot of people will not like the way it looks compared to the overall house. Not saying that it is a bad thing for it not to look like the house, just have to think of what other people will think.

Jimmy

 

[thefairlaneman]

I tried to find a builder to put me up just a basic shell for a small 2 car garage. The price was 15 to 30 k 6 years ago.........I only had about 10 cash so I just built a 3 car with alot of extras the cheap ones didnt have for a cost of approx 8500................took me 15 months and well worth the time...my house value according to tax re-evaluation went up 15k...

 

[DynoDave]

How much? 'll let you know as soon as I get a number...the tax man was here Monday.

 

[cw_racefan]

How much? 'll let you know as soon as I get a number...the tax man was here Monday.

Lol...friggin' tax man....bumped my assessment by $40k for an 1100 sq ft, which at the time had no electric! Yeah, like I could get that much more because of it, especially with the current market.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Lol...friggin' tax man....bumped my assessment by $40k for an 1100 sq ft, which at the time had no electric! Yeah, like I could get that much more because of it, especially with the current market.

In charlotte the money grubbers have fpond a way to value everyones house for more than the fair market value. Not but a few years the "tax value" was where the prices would start and most sell for alot more. Same way with out cars, I could buy 2 cars like the one I have for the amount they say for tax purposes this one is worth. Funny they can track my personal property but cant track the illegals.........

 

[Winmon]

I did take resale into consideration when I had my attached 40' x 40' garage built. Since the area I live at has ALOT of retirees (alot with RV's), I went the 40' depth along with a 14' ceiling (20' x 40' of it) to accommodate just about any RV. I also had the architect design it so it blended with the house along with the roof line. However, if and when the time comes to sell, I am sure it will not be a "easy" sell. I will have to find the right person who either wants to be able to park their RV inside or who is a car freak. I can say that every guy that I have shown my garage to "says" they would love to have a garage like it. Problem is I think it is the wife who ends up having the final say when it comes time to buy a house.....

 

[Flipper_1938]

http://www.zillow.com/

Check the value of your house (and anybody elses) along with adding upgrades (new kitchen, deck garage, etc.)

Check it often enough and you can watch the value go up and down.
Its sort like watching your 401k value.

Holly ****. I just used this and looked up my parents house. Kinda spooky.