First time buyer - no garage, need advice on adding one

[scootermcrad]

Hey everyone! First official post beyond a general introduction!

My wife and I are looking at purchasing a house on a pretty decent sized lot (0.8 acres). The house doesn't have a garage and/or shop of any kind, but the price is great and the house is awesome and everything we want so we're seriously considering moving forward with it and just adding a garage and shop as soon as the deal is closed. It's important that we can move forward with a garage and shop right away because I have three car projects and machining tools that need a home. Basically if we can't build a garage right away or within' a reasonable amount of time, we may have to pass on the property all together. That would be a shame!

For those of you who have been through this, I was wondering if you could maybe share some advice.

I'm guessing that the bank is not going to give me a loan for an additional sum of money beyond what the property is worth as it sits. Does a person just apply for a construction loan or something along those lines?

The house itself is a historic house about 2200 square feet. The shop will end up being a ball park 1400 square feet or so.

Thoughts? Advice on where to look for financing for something like this? Sorry if these are sort of dumb questions. I'm completely virgin to all this home-ownership stuff. So I could really use some assistance. Figured there was probably at least a handful of you guys that have been through this very scenario.

Thanks guys! Fire away!

 

[Tman]

Scooter, welcome. Tons of info here, look around.

The word HISTORIC scares me. I love old neighborhoods but look into codes and any historic limitations. Our local district is HARSH on any changes to the area, adding a garage in a no-no. Look first.

 

[scootermcrad]

Scooter, welcome. Tons of info here, look around.

The word HISTORIC scares me. I love old neighborhoods but look into codes and any historic limitations. Our local district is HARSH on any changes to the area, adding a garage in a no-no. Look first.

Hey man!

The house itself was built in the 30's, but it isn't in a historic neighborhood. So it doesn't appear to fall under any strict regulations. However, we have looked at the local Historic neighborhood as a guideline, since they have written a monster book on what you can and cannot do. We should be okay, either way. In fact the neighbor has a huge building in back of his property that doesn't appear to even match his home, so that's probably a good sign as well. So, we're felling confident that we could get it approved and whatever we do will match the house anyway. It will look as if it was built at or around the same period.

So really, it's just figuring out how a person goes about paying a contractor. Wish I could say I was building this myself, but I don't have the time and frankly don't have the woodworking tools and skills to do it right.

 

[scootermcrad]

Wow... I should have done a better search. I just read this thread:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34203&highlight=garage+financing&showall=1

Wow... Doesn't sound good for my situation. I would only be having a shell built, and not some monster slab, but looks like financing something like this is not likely to happen. We would have to get a personal loan or line of credit, I suppose.

Maybe I should go talk to my credit union about the situation and see if they have any advice.

 

[John in OH]

I gotta second Tman's advice about knowing what you can and cannot do ... but it does sound as if you have already begun your homework. Often there are restrictions on square footage, height, set-backs, off-sets from lot lines, and architectural style .... so just make sure you know what you are getting into.

Regarding building, this may take a little longer than you hope for, particularly if you wish to build in a style complementary to the existing house. Getting drawings made and approved with the proper architectural detailing and getting a good building spec written that clearly spells out what you want can be time consuming. So can identifying competent builders and getting bids back and evaluated. Things just never go as quickly as one would think they should. Of course, if you already have a good builder that you know you can work with then that changes the ball game.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

Until you talk with the planning department (Building Dept) of the county or municipality and the HOA, if there is one, there's absolutely no need to talk about anything else. And just because the neighbor did it/has it doesn't make it right or legal. And if legal, who knows what changes have or haven't been made since then.
There have been significant changes in development code over the past 5-6 years- especially those that deal with impervious surfaces- which you will obviously be planning to make. And all the other things that John mentioned above.

 

[mikeyr]

Plan on 4-6 months, I am sure it can be done much faster if the stars align properly but I would say 6 months is about minimum.

First before you can get permits, you will have to draw it up or have a architect draw it up. In my town, they would have accepted a simple drawing for a new garage but because I was attaching it to existing garage they wanted stamped engineered drawings, so check your local regs. If you can draw it up yourself, you can do it in a weekend, if you need a architect and engineer stamps, count minimum 2 weeks in my case it was about a month.

I needed to provide a survey and most surveyers I spoke with said they would be there in 2 weeks and provide the survey 2 weeks later, so another month, I got lucky and found a hungry surveyor who came next day and got me the drawings in a week.

So now you are at 6-8 weeks and you take your stuff to the city for the permits, 2 weeks later you find the permit denied because of some detail, in my case they were not convinced that I had modified the slope of the back yard enough and wanted me to remove another 2" of dirt for drainage, that meant modifying the drawings. The city also required some simpson walls that were not on the plans, more modifying of the drawing and a re-stamp from engineer. 5 weeks from submit drawings to permit.

My contractor was ready to go and had his workers working on the forms the same day the permit was given and poured the slab same week. Then we hit a "snag" on the Simpson walls that the city required us to put in, they were not available and had to be ordered that took 2 weeks. Framing went quick and roof was put on, wiring, etc. It ended up taking about 4 1/2 months total from "lets do this" to finish, it could have been a little faster if I had them do the siding.

In my case, it went pretty smooth, there were no red flags at any inspection and I feel it went pretty fast. A friend also in town is a little over a year into his build but they are finally framing, he had several issues with getting the permits, it took about 8 months to get the permits because he is in "old town" which means more busy bodies making your life miserable.

During the time my garage was being built, I had borrowed some space at a friends garage and rented a storage unit downtown for the rest of my stuff (also had my lathe/mill in the living room and the wife allowed that).

As to money, when we moved into the house we also got a home equity line, so we used that to fix up the house and build the garage, we did have $40k in cash but the house needed LOTS of work also.

 

[cderalow]

you can apply for what is called a home equity loan, the idea being you're using the loan to increase the value (equity) of your home through it's use.

I'd get with a realtor, a city appraisor and your mortgage holder to review what they think adding a period correct outbuilding to your lot would be worth, and then work the bank into giving you a loan for that amount.

Note, that may or may not cover the costs of building the place (probably not), but it certainly helps get some initial funding in the door. After that, save up. See if contractors will provide labor only, and a required materials list, and buy the materials yourself through a local materials distributor. this can save a 5-10% markup from the contractor.

 

[srmofo]

Theres just too many what ifs and unknowns. For example, tge neighbors property,it doesn't mean squat if he has a monster shop, if the codes have changed since it was built.

My advice, take that 40-50k and buy property that will fit your needs better. those estimates are low, but again can vary widely depending on length of the approach, and level of detail inside and out. another tip, "historic" looking means $$$ to duplicate

 

[scootermcrad]

Thanks for all the input, guys! I really, really, appreciate it!

I totally anticipate all the "issues" associated with permits and what not. I grew up in a house that was always under construction, and it seems just about everyone I ever knew had some kind of major home project going on that required all the extra BS. So I'm actually assuming there will be issues, and I definitely plan on getting an architect to finalize the designs and pass them to a PE for stamping.

I have the ability to draw up the plans. I've done lots of architectural drafting. I was actually thinking of shopping around for some plans and then simply modifying them, creating a new drawing set, and then having an architect finish anything I can't. At least that might shave a little money off that bill. I figured I would pay for all the planning costs out of pocket so I'm only getting a loan on the construction itself, if that's possible. I can do drywall and all that business as well.

To help matters a little, I have some friends in construction and possibly even a connection with city planning, but I'm not going to rely on that for certain. I MAY even have a connection on materials and MAYBE! JUST MAYBE! Even have a contractor friend that can do it. But I still need to pay to do what I can't.

I definitely am assuming a minimum of 4 months just for construction time and as much as a year or more. My lathe and mill can go in the basement (it's a walk-out) and I can always put up a temporary shed for the parts, odds, and ends. I might have a line on a shop space to rent as well, if a spot opens up. If not, I can always rent a storage unit until there is a roof and walls.

All great input guys! I really appreciate it! Going to call my realtor in a bit to chat with her about these details. She's just getting word of it and looking into the property as I type this. I mostly just wanted to get some input so I have something to input on the conversation, instead of going in completely stupid... Well. Maybe it's still stupid, but I feel like I've learned a couple things from this thread, anyway!

 

[FXDawg]

Theres just too many what ifs and unknowns. For example, tge neighbors property,it doesn't mean squat if he has a monster shop, if the codes have changed since it was built.

My advice, take that 40-50k and buy property that will fit your needs better. those estimates are low, but again can vary widely depending on length of the approach, and level of detail inside and out. another tip, "historic" looking means $$$ to duplicate

+1...

Look at more expensive houses with the garage space you need. I'm still waiting on my garage after 10 years! I've ended up with a 20'x12' shed for a shop and the cars are outside.

I had planned on building the garage with the house but the contractor ended up being a crack head loser and it took all I could do to finish the house and get moved in. The sad part was that there was already a garage, in kind of rough shape, and said crack head convinced me to drop it and rebuild it "as long as we're rebuilding the roof anyway."

Anyway, try not to add that level of complication to moving into a new house if you don't have to. It's a buyers market and plenty of inventory.

 

[Krash Kadillak]

1. Get contractors opinions on ease/difficulty of pulling permits in the city where the house is (Huntington Beach?).

2. Get city building department details on set-backs, height restrictions, size, etc.

3. Talk to your lender about a construction loan that you can 'fold into' the main loan on the property. I don't know why they wouldn't be able to do this.

4. Before signing any escrow papers, try to locate a suitable residence that has a decent garage already constructed - much easer way to go all around.

 

[regguy1]

One thing I did when we built the detatched garage is make it match the house, If I had put up a metal building or pole barn that looked out of place it would've devalued the property. Reason being is I had to put the garage in the front as the lot can't be built on behind the house even though we have 5.5 acres.

If you have a historic home this will be even more important, a mis-matched building could turn off buyers at resale time.

See the inside in the video link below......

 

[Old Moparz]

Even if you can build without limitations from historical structures, codes, etc., you will need to know where any underground utilities are, as well as the setback requirements. The 0.8 acres is a good size, but some municipalities have minimum requirements for keeping the building off the property lines. It'll vary from one municipality to another.

In the town where I live, the minimum setback distance is only 5' from the rear & side property lines, but you're not allowed to build the front of the garage any closer to the front property line than where the house already sits. Combine the setbacks with where a septic system is located & you end up with a smaller & smaller area of where a garage will fit.

 

[scootermcrad]

Thanks for all your replies, everyone!

Nice sterile shop/garage you have there, regguy1!

We've learned a lot in the past couple days and have been speaking with our realtor. Calling the bank today to see what kind of options we have. It's possible we may be able to roll partial cost of a garage/shop into the loan as an improvement to the property because a garage by itself would only add value to the property. A monster shop (like mentioned above) may not be considered added value though, so they would probably only give us a certain allowance (if anything) and we would have to cover the difference with another type of loan or out of pocket. Chances are, we'll have to get financing separately for the garage/shop project. But I probably won't know until all the financing for the house is taken care of.

For those of you saying "just save the 45-50K and buy a property with what you need on it"... I understand where you are coming from completely, however the chances of finding a piece of property where we're looking in our price range and the house we want that already has the mentioned 1400 square foot shop on it are one in a million. And the more expensive homes would STILL need something constructed, so we're not really saving any money by buying a more expensive house.

Anyway, this has all been very educational!!!! ALL the input here has been helpful! THANK YOU!!! I'll let you k now what happens! Lots to consider...

EDIT WITHOUT A THREAD BUMP:

Wasn't worth bumping the thread, but in case someone searches and runs across this thread, we learned there was no possible way to roll the cost of a garage into the equation (as expected and for obvious reasons), and ended up passing on the property all-together. Purchased a house with a 20x25 garage, building a 12x16 shed for the lawn equipment, and now am planning to build a larger detached garage for all my equipment and projects when funds allow.

That is all.