First time home buyer

[Sublimaze]

Hey folks.

I'm in the market for my first house. Credit checks have been ran, down payments have been saved (sort of), and funding is about to be secured. We've been searching the interweb for what's being offered and I feel like I'm in a great position to get something good, especially with todays real estate market. Livable, but still room for renovations and improvement.

One of the most important thing I've been looking for is a garage. I'm not concerned whether or not it's attached or how many cars I can fit, but as long as there's some structure to keep the rain off me while I'm wrenching and provide somewhere to hide myself and my tools from the wife, I'll be happy.

With this in mind, a few of the properties we've been looking at come with a garage, but some don't. A good chunk of land is another important selling point, and if the property we wind up with doesn't come with a garage, we'll be building one.

Does anyone have any advice on buying property with a garage versus buying without and building one? Anyone have any rough estimates on how much their 1 or 2 car mancave cost to build? Say I find a property that I like and is in our budget but doesn't come with a garage, what am I going to have to look for to make sure I can legally and physically build another structure on the land? I'm not going to shell out 200k for a house unless I know for certain I can build a garage. I know a lot of this is town and state specific, but I'd like to get a cursory look of what I'm up against. Is the headache of trying to find a house with a garage worse than the headache of pulling permits and fighting with the town to build one?

Any advice on this topic would be great guys.

Thanks!

 

[jwhcars]

My son lives near Boston. We have done some lets say updates on the inside of the house.
You have to make sure that you bring in new material and get rid of the old in a quiet way.
As I understand it you need to use a licensed person for just about anything. We found that
Out just in time. The price of adding a garage and making sure that it can be built on the lot will be a pain.
Good luck in your search. I would try buying with a garage , less hassle.

 

[bdamico]

As a first time home buyer, you will have plenty to do other than putting up a new garage. And I'd bet the expenses will be more than you expect--so it will likely fall to the backburner for quite some time. Plus you then have to come up with the cash or take a second--if you can get one--so I'd just get one with a garage.

 

[justanengineer]

My only advice would be to save at least a few thousand extra and wait a few months after moving in to see what you NEED to do to the property/house before you begin what you WANT to do. My parents have bought several houses that were lost due to relatively minor expenses, and I would guesstimate mine cost me ~$7k AFTER I moved in due to unexpected "surprises" in a house I spent 5 months renovating 90% of before I actually moved in.

 

[SGKent]

location location location

Don't buy where water can flood your property. A garage that is partially below grade is worse than no garage if you get flooding where you live.

An old garage that is functional will be less expensive than building a new one.

Measure twice and buy once. make sure you have room for your tools and a good work bench. If the wife wants to put a washer and dryer out there etc plus the kid's things then make sure you aren't out of room before you pull the car in. Your wife's wants will trump your wants.

 

[Gary S]

Your location says Boston. That is bad news. You live in a blue state and that means very little freedom. Before buying anything you need to do months of research and find out if you can build anything in this century without spending 10k on paperwork first.

I bought my house on a large lot with no garage. I then built a 4 car stick-built garage for 10K. Where you live, that 10K probably won't do the paperwork. Here it builds the entire garage ready to use.

 

[packofqtips]

buy with the garage, otherwise you wont have one for 5-10 years
i just bought my first house up in nashua, 2 car detached garage. love it and my commute to boston is only about 45 mins since i work off hours

 

[KPSquared]

Make sure you have a way to come up with the money for the garage or you'll never get it done. I bought my current place 2.5 years ago. Still working on the garage. . . I'm about 35k into it at this point.

 

[Jarcese]

Every town around Boston is different. I know a few towns around here are more lenient. I assume you're not actually in Boston since you can't buy a garage without the house in Boston for less than 500k. It's safe to assume that the town will want a piece of whatever you're doing and you can't hide a garage. I ran into a real problem with inspectors down on the Cape if you're looking anywhere down there. I live in Weymouth and the town seems pretty easy to deal with here.

I noticed you have a wife, so do I. I bet you will be spending thousands of dollars on blinds before you get your garage if you don't buy a house with one. Didn't know those damn things were so expensive until I bought a house.

 

[Sublimaze]

This is some solid feedback. Sounds like we'll be looking for a house with a garage. Does anyone have any experience with one of those renomorts? It's a mortgage that gives you a little extra cash for renovations. I think you have to be a first time buyer to qualify for one. Would a garage be considered a renovation?

 

[Zeke]

Don't ask us at the GJ about financial stuff. Go to the source and get the truth.

Frankly, I wouldn't add in a thing to the basic loan. Make sure something like that doesn't trip PMI. You don't want to get stuck with PMI payments. It's hard to get rid of that. A waste of your money.

 

[sr71]

when you are looking do not fall in love with anything - this is a buyers market - treat it like an investment. no experience with renomorgs but i recall reading recently that they are hard to get (paperwork) and most important bank will only pay reno funds to a GC

 

[RKA]

I would only build from scratch if I planned to be buried in it. For a first time buyer, that probably isn't the case. The reason...whatever I build, I won't recover my money selling in 7-10 years when I've outgrown the house or need to put the kids in better schools. And as already stated you'll have enough expenses (planned and unplanned). Saving up the scratch to pay for the build will always be a second priority (which is to say a pipe dream).

 

[GarageEnvy]

If you're looking at actual construction costs, talk to a local contractor. Pay him for his time. Ballpark figures can be obtained from Marshall & Swift Cost service. If the Boston market is like my area, buying will be cheaper than building. In my area garage stalls add $3,000 to $5,000 per stall up to about 3 stalls. Beyond that, there's little added value.

 

[Gary S]

I would only build from scratch if I planned to be buried in it. For a first time buyer, that probably isn't the case. The reason...whatever I build, I won't recover my money selling in 7-10 years when I've outgrown the house or need to put the kids in better schools. .

If that is the situation, you are building wrong. I built my 1150 sq ft garage for $10k, and it raised the property resale value by $17k the first year. Selling right after building would have turned a profit for me.