Is garage lust dead?

[Patrobot]

FWIW here is the shop, yeah we got a lot of flack for the modern kitchen,lol.
https://www.trulia.com/p/ct/windsor/48-silver-birch-ln-windsor-ct-06095--2004778872

 

[andyvh1959]

I agree that the lust for a shop we all suffer from is not common with the younger set, unless they are into things like fishing, ATVs, snowmobiles, etc. Here in Green Bay nearly every new home built has at least a three car attached garage, many with the 3rd stall deeper that the others (again, boats, trailers, etc). Homes outside of town commonly have a detached garage or storage. My home in Green Bay was built in 73, a tri-level with a 2 car+ garage under the three bedrooms. To make it more competitive on the realty market against the new homes (and because mine is a contemporary style in a conservative market) I built the 24x28 detached garage last fall. So now it has storage for at least four vehicles, or easily a fishing boat on a trailer, motorcycle or ATVs or snowmobile, etc. I figure little or no loss on the $20,000 I'm spending on building this garage, and it adds a lot to the marketability (walking distance to Lambeau field for Packers games).

At my previous home in a little rural town 30 miles south of Green Bay I had built a 1350 sq ft garage/shop integrated/attached to the 1500 sq ft older farm style house. I bought the house cheap ($60K) and built the garage for $10K, with plans to live there many years. Then I got stupid and married the wrong person, moved to Green Bay. My little house sold quickly to a younger couple with two kids, and the huge garage was just a storage area (sigh) when I thought someone like me would really enjoy it. But, they bought it, I got the money out of it.

 

[straps57]

i'm 40 and most of my friends wouldn't know how to operate, let alone properly get a vehicle on the lift without a chance it fell off. Aside from owning multiple acres of land that require multiple pieces of equipment to maintain the amount of buyers that would pay more for a shop is tiny. A lift really is just a luxury and adds no value. I only do general repairs on my vehicles so maybe they are up on jack stands 10 times a year.

 

[engineer2]

When we moved to the area 20 years ago, I tried to find a place with a 3 car garage. One realtor even commented that a garage is "just a place to park your car" and couldn't understand why someone wanted a large garage.

A house with a large garage was almost non-existent until you got into the $400,000-up $12k/yr property tax range. It's still that way around here. 3-car garage homes rarely come on the market. Do hobbyists own them? Rarely. Most are piled with boxes of **** or the occasional fishing boat with boxes of **** pile on top.

Most younger people are more interested in cell phones and video games instead of physical labor. If something breaks, throw it away. House needs repairs? Call someone. Car giving you trouble? Trade it in for a new one. They consider it to be a sign of poverty if you have to fix something yourself. It's a status symbol to simply throw stuff away and buy new.

 

[NewShockerGuy]

It's a shame that people don't appreciate it. I keep telling my wife the house we are in is great but I just wish it had a bigger 2 car garage.. IE: 3-4 and or a detached. Problem is around me if you live on anything below a certain acreage you can't have more than X amount of sq ft for the garage. Thus you end up with these GIANT 5000+ sqft homes with only a two car garage. It's a shame.

I look at homes probably every other day on Zillow and one of the main things I always look at is to see how big the garage and or if there is a detached garage as well...

Sometimes the house could be OK or I would normally say, that's not the house for me, but if it has a larger garage or detached I change my tune and say that could work no problem.

I think a lot of people now don't want the hassle of dealing with stuff or messing with things. Especially the people that are growing up now have no desire to take care of stuff in terms of "property" maintenance. IE: My younger friends spent $1.2 million on a condo in DC, it's nice, open concept. No yard, no garage, nothing. They are right in the heart of the city and can walk to everything. Parking is 1 allocated spot then the rest is on the street.

I'm 30 minutes from DC so $1.2 million would net me around 10 acres and a 7000sq ft house. In fact the one I looked at that was forsale many months ago had 10 acres, and a 3 car attached garage and a 3 car double length detached garage with a complete upstairs living area for around 900k.... I asked them why they choose that over having land/bigger house. They said they didn't want anything to do with the normal upkeep of a house or yard maintenance. They'd much rather pay condo fees and have the roof/sidewalks/grass all be done with the owner of the building and they never have to worry about doing that.

Different strokes for different folks. I'd LOVE to find a place with a workshop w/a lift!

-Nigel

 

[egdede]

i'm 40 and most of my friends wouldn't know how to operate, let alone properly get a vehicle on the lift without a chance it fell off. Aside from owning multiple acres of land that require multiple pieces of equipment to maintain the amount of buyers that would pay more for a shop is tiny. A lift really is just a luxury and adds no value. I only do general repairs on my vehicles so maybe they are up on jack stands 10 times a year.

I've rebuilt a SBC in my garage (cherry picked and put on an engine stand). I wouldn't know how to safely put a car on a lift because I have never owned a lift. I even worked at a gas station for a while, but wasn't trained/allowed to use the lift.

 

[Matt M PA]

It's interesting to read here that 'garage lust' might be a generational thing. You hear a lot about mental health problems with young people, anxiety etc. For me, time in the workshop or garage is very calming, I can truly relax and lose myself in a project or shop upgrade (but it helps to have a unified, well-organised workspace rather than piles of **** everywhere). Jack Olsen mentions this in his 12-Gauge Garage video at 08:50 here

.

Maybe the younger generation could learn to embrace working with their hands, producing actual things (which are sometimes even useful!) rather than spending all day looking at their phone, and would reap the mental health rewards of doing so. I hope some of them make/get the chance to learn this way of living.

Same here. I spent most of last Saturday with a project that was non-automotive, but I enjoyed immensely. (It was a custom case for my drone). There's just something about time with a project that makes me feel like a day was well used, er, invested.

 

[yeldogt]

FWIW here is the shop, yeah we got a lot of flack for the modern kitchen,lol.
https://www.trulia.com/p/ct/windsor/48-silver-birch-ln-windsor-ct-06095--2004778872

It's all about location and value.

Every area has a max dollar point .. with high demand and low availability -- most areas are at the top all-ready. A nice garage may add a small amount or more likely sway a purchase from someone looking at many possible properties.

One of my places has a 2 car attached garage. I don't even like attached garages --- most people looking at a nice suburban house will not even look at one without an attached garage.

 

[3onthetree]

There's a lot of good sentiments here. It always boils down to location, price, and whether someone can picture themselves living there. Shops for cars have definitely declined with younger folk, but it is still a niche product, just like a wine cellar, *** dungeon, or modern decor is.

Surely this opinion will ruffle some feathers here on GJ:

The biggest factor I see in why people don't want to buy a house with a shop, is the quality of the entire property. Too often the focus is just put on the shop and the house is left just "good enough" with no updated kitchen, bathrooms, and very little space. But hey, there's a HUGE shop out back dwarfing the house that is fully equipped, epoxy coated, mini-splitted, with a bar and office. Sure, they'd think that is bonus, but the priority in shelling out the dough lies with the house.

The other factor, to be realistic, is most people with a "gitterdun" attitude just plain don't have the skill or care for design (or prioritize functionality over it). As examples you see garages tacked on with odd roofs, or detached placed on the lot to allow for an RV or trailer turnaround so the overhead door and driveway dominates the house. Multiple buildings just placed what seems as random. Nice brick house, but corrugated metal garage blocking the view of the backyard. All that's fine and dandy, but if you really want to sell down the road or are concerned with your ROI, you would have put some face brick on the front, a decorative dormer, wouldn't have built it where a back patio should be, etc. Even in rural areas (not talking ag) where regulations are not as strict, more successful sales I see are ones that put in as much thought and money as they do with the house - everything is consistent. It's no different than a buyer passing on a house that has an odd layout or crappy workmanship, the shop is just an extension of that house mindset.

Granted the funds available certainly determines the level of house and shop, and sometimes you have to sacrifice the house to get a decent shop. But if someone looking to buy has X dollars, they would spend that on a better house where they can add a shop later, rather than spend their X on a lesser house that already has a shop. Look at 90% of GJ threads, it's about building a new shop where they already live. So the garage lust is there, just very few people will buy based solely on their lust over your particular garage you built for your needs.

 

[TexMedium]

It IS a generational thing. A couple of years ago i had two twenty-somethings as part of my crew. One was "training" the other. Think "ignorant and blind leading the stupid and sight-less", and you have these two pegged. they were talking about some Subaru model they both owned, factory race cars, sort of, i gathered from the conversation. One bragged that he had just paid "over $2200 for a clutch job!" And, nearly as i could tell, he was as happy as a clam about it! Having just laid in the street to replace the clutch in my C3500HD, i was curious how it could have cost more than TEN TIMES what my job had cost. So, i asked the kid, "what was so expensive? did you have to buy some special tools?" The little treasure looked down his nose at me and said, "I do not own tools! I do not get MY hands dirty! I PAY people do do that for me!!!" I just shook my head. Someday my pension check is going to depend on schmucks like this.

 

[Stuart in MN]

It IS a generational thing. A couple of years ago i had two twenty-somethings as part of my crew.

Blaming an entire generation because of the attitudes of two individuals is bad math.

 

[dr_clyde]

It IS a generational thing. A couple of years ago i had two twenty-somethings as part of my crew. One was "training" the other. Think "ignorant and blind leading the stupid and sight-less", and you have these two pegged. they were talking about some Subaru model they both owned, factory race cars, sort of, i gathered from the conversation. One bragged that he had just paid "over $2200 for a clutch job!" And, nearly as i could tell, he was as happy as a clam about it! Having just laid in the street to replace the clutch in my C3500HD, i was curious how it could have cost more than TEN TIMES what my job had cost. So, i asked the kid, "what was so expensive? did you have to buy some special tools?" The little treasure looked down his nose at me and said, "I do not own tools! I do not get MY hands dirty! I PAY people do do that for me!!!" I just shook my head. Someday my pension check is going to depend on schmucks like this.

I’m a millennial. I have a 4000 sq. ft. shop with all the tools and equipment to work on cars and then some.

I don’t. I can’t stand working on cars. I am happy to pay someone to change oil, do maintenance and most mechanical repairs. I can do all the work. I have in the past. But my time is worth WAY more doing fabrication and machine work than fixing my daily driver to “save money”. In reality, I’m losing money by DIYing car repairs. If not actual money then I’m losing my VERY valuable free time.

I’m good at what I’m good at, and I enjoy what I enjoy. Neither of which is fixing cars. Why shouldn’t I pay a good mechanic to do what he’s good at and I’ll do what I’m good at?

 

[Magnum440d100]

I moved to a town 2200 miles away.

I chose the house I did based solely on the fact that it has a 2 car attached and a 2.5 car detached lol.

The house needs a TON of work. I could have gotten a nicer house on less property, and no garage for the same money. But the garages won out lol

 

[evh]

I don’t think garage lust is dead. I sure hope not. I thought I would describe my recent experience. Mid-50’s and lived on a fantastic spot on a lake. A great view/location that would be envied by most. My wife and I have talked for a number of years about moving but never pulled the trigger.

The house is your typical late 60’s walkout ranch with a “small” attached two car garage. My workspace in the garage was basically 4’x8’. You can’t believe how much stuff I got done in that small of an area. Always having to pull the cars out and I could never leave a project and come back to it. I always had to put everything away! The basement (walkout) is almost 100% finished so there was only a small spot to work down there. There is also not place to put a shed/garage. Also note the neighbors were very close so I was always sensitive to the racket I did make when working. Finally we have lived at this location close to 20 years.

Roll forward to last November when we were alerted to some folks from out of town that wanted to live on the lake. The wife and I had a discussion and decided to pull the trigger and sold. We talked about what we thought retirement might look like. I think a majority would think living on a lake would be ideal. Not me, I have always wanted a shop(s). The Misses wanted something newer.

Although I don’t recommend trying buy a house during a global pandemic, but that is what we did. A few weeks ago we moved into a new ranch on 1 acre (not so close to the neighbors). It has a large 3 car garage with a unfinished basement. These were my requirements. So I went from a 4’8’x shop to what seems like a huge area. I am having a great time setting it up. The basement will house a wood/electronic shop while the garage has a small engine/auto garage. I couldn’t be happier.

So from my perspective, we moved from a great location on a lake to new home with a large 3 car garage and unfinished basement. I watch some of my retired neighbors simply sit outside and look at the lake for hours. I could not think of anything more boring. I have to be working on something. Doing/Fixing, etc. Now I have some space to do it.

My 1.5 year old grandson helps me when he is over. He likes the tractor and playing in my car. Whenever I am working on things, he sits right with me. Jobs take twice as long, but they are a lot more fun.

So garage lust isn’t dead, but I think it is waning. My son and son-in-law are not really interested in such things. But I guess that could change. I am trying to get my grandson and granddaughters hooked. A slow process but I am willing to pass it along.

 

[Alain V.]

My workshop is MY WORKSHOP, and it is of no concern to me or my spouse whether we (or she) ever recover any of the cost of building it, operating it, or maintaining it, or what the next owner might store inside it. They can raise pigs in there, grow pot in there, keep their umpteen dozen children in there, I really don't care. The value of it is in my time of using it.

It has surely been a blessing now that we are sheltered at home, and our only time apart is when I am in the shop. Curiously, I get far fewer drop-in visits from the dear wife these days . . .

I consider the cost to have been an investment in my sanity, and in the health of my marriage, as both are better off when I have space to do my thing, and she has time alone in the (her) house.

DITTO to everything that Steevo put in the post above

 

[andyvh1959]

There are some younger ones (younger than 45) that do have the skills and desire to use and enjoy a shop garage, but those are the fewer of the few. Those of us 45 and older grew up with the heyday of cars and working with your hands. Plus most of us came after the generation of "do it yourself, for yourself." The Depression generation and the post WW2 generation (my parents lived through German occupation of Holland in WW2). As our world became more high-tech and less self service it developed multiple generations of buy or pay for what I want or need.

I learned from my dad, a journeyman type mechanic/craftsman. Welding, metal work, woodwork, electrical, plumbing, he did it all and did it with his hands. I learned that value and satisfaction from him and enjoy it to this day. He was proud to work with his hands, but also proud to make sure his hands did not look like laborer hands, due to **** he got from his family for just being a "blue collar" guy. Nowadays, people like Mike Rowe is one of few stressing the value and satisfaction of a hands on career.

I also am a MSF instructor, teaching new riders to start and hopefully enjoy a life of motorcycle riding. Up to the early 2000's we were in such demand that I could work every weekend from May to the end of October, part time, making good money. Now days, classes are cancelling by early August for lack of students. Riding motorcycles, to those of the video game age, is too noisy, too risky, too loud, too uncomfortable, to enjoy the deep satisfying pleasures of riding. Much easier these days to fire up a video game and live in an electronic world. Most of the riders I teach to this day are 40+ in age.

 

[Vintage Veloce]

Around here, in San Diego, you can tell know one cares about garages when you are shopping.
I mean, we looked for a home for quite a while and the listings typically say NOTHING about the garage. The real estate agents write the listing and they don't care because they know most buyers don't care. For anything that looked possibly interesting, I'd check google maps satellite view and street view to see what was actually there.
Of course, sometimes the better garages were mentioned, but really, if it was just an old detached single car garage (that I might find fantastic), there typically was no mention.
The home we bought did have a garage that had been ignored for decades and was a total termite damaged mess. I restored it. And I built a second garage of my dreams. But I don't pretend it will add to the resale value, it's just what I want.
Bottom line, look at the for sale advertisements on zillow and redfin: Do they say much about the garages in your area?

 

[Parrothead]

People can say that don't want/need a big garage all they want, but I've never EVER drove past a garage with the door open that wasn't pilled full of ****.

Come by my neighborhood, you’ll be lucky if there’s a lawnmower or a rake in some of them.

 

[2Busy]

As many of us have experienced first hand, when a family buys a house, your better half usually has a long list of must-haves. Still remember the second time we bought one, had been making due before that with a two-car garage. Told her that she could make the pick on new ones as long as it had a three-car garage. We bought a beautiful home with—guess what? A two car garage

I think there are still plenty of guys who would love a property with a shop or huge garage but too many other things take priority.

 

[Ilikeike]

They’re not even building most new middle income homes with yards big enough for a outdoor grill.

 

[aggie113]

When I was looking for my house I knew I'd likely only be in it until I retired (20-25 years max). Still, I was looking for large garage spaces. I found one that was damn near perfect with a huge attached garage and a two post lift. Only issue was no high speed internet. Man I tried to get a company to extend lines but no dice so had to let it go.
Ended up buying a place much closer to work for less with no garage at all but over 1.4 acres of land. Since closing on the house I've been trying to get my garage built and I'm currently in the super drawn out process of having a 40x30 detached built. I know it likely won't add value when selling the place, but I also knew I didn't want to wait 15 years to build it. This way, I can enjoy the garage for the max amount of time and I won't cry so much if I get no ROI.

I'm 41 and single but got a good job and worked a few years in war zones to help save up some $, so I got to have full say when I was looking at houses. Also, I didn't touch a car with a wrench until 2006. When I bought my first Subaru and I started taking a more active role in maintaining the car (changing oil/spark plugs) and later met up with other enthusiasts that helped show me how to do larger projects with it. Since then I've maintained my desire to work on my cars with the exception of cracking open a drivetrain. Maybe a proper shop will change that. I hope for my garage to be a space where my friends and myself can work on our cars/projects for many years to come.... Now, just need to get the contractor to finish building it!

 

[Showkey]

They’re not even building most new middle income homes with yards big enough for a outdoor grill.

Time to get out more........not every place is like California.

 

[DFB]

Come by my neighborhood, you’ll be lucky if there’s a lawnmower or a rake in some of them.

Ya that does almost always amaze me to see a generally empty garage

 

[DFB]

Speaking of empty or full my cousin pretty much inherited the family home after his father passed and has lived there close to 40 years now after he come home from his Naval enlistment time. He doesn't wrench do yard work or much else except his job to deliver mail

The garage is still his father garage to this day...the wrenches hang just as they were and rusty cans of old hardware still on the workbench.

Talk about a blast from the past

 

[Philpug]

Just because something is important to you (us), does not mean it is important to someone else. This is the lunatic fringe here, hell, just look at the name of the forum GARAGEjournal. I run a similar site for skiing, it is not uncommon for the vast majority of our members to have 5, 6...10 pairs of skis and rotate them out every season. That might seem crazy to some here, as mentioned earlier, to each their own. Go to any enthusiast site and you will find the same thing.

What frustrates me is when I see two $50k+ vehicles in the driveway and the garage filled with $854.47 of junk. Then you see these people complain on the Next-door neighbor site complain that their car was broken into.

 

[Parrothead]

They’re not even building most new middle income homes with yards big enough for a outdoor grill.

Time to get out more........not every place is like California.

Umm...this is in Indiana. In this particular subdivision the patio is where the grill goes, and the outdoor fireplace too. Look at the lots. $350-600k+

If you have a park and community pool/playground, that’s what people are looking for these days. They don’t want to be sod farming, and they certainly don’t care about working on anything.

 

[Ilikeike]

Umm...this is in Indiana. In this particular subdivision the patio is where the grill goes, and the outdoor fireplace too. Look at the lots. $350-600k+

If you have a park and community pool/playground, that’s what people are looking for these days. They don’t want to be sod farming, and they certainly don’t care about working on anything.

Our State .gov is pushing High Density housing for middle income down, I think they want more room for drug camps for the homeless to live freely in, at least much more mixed in low income housing and apartments.

The plans I've seen for the newest subdivision "Community" starting in a couple of years has no space for someone to have RV/boat parking or anything close. These mid income homes would be lucky to fit a short one lane lap pool in the yard.

No shop sized lots or big garages built anymore, I don't get it, but the 40 and under crowd do I guess.

Free range for chickens, but coop us up! It's their moto.

 

[Showkey]

Our State .gov is pushing High Density housing for middle income do

Free range for chickens, but coop us up! It's their moto.

Scary and unfortunately true..........


Maybe rethink ( I know thats (rethinking) never done ) but the high density and virus are bad combo.

Holly **** ........California allows outdoor grills..........think for the harm to the environment!!!!!!

 

[finn]

Time to get out more........not every place is like California.

Most of Arizona is the same way. Tiny lots with no room for a shop, unless you are willing to pay $750k or more.

That’s a bit much for a seasonal residence, so we ended up with a 20x20, which I thought I would hate, but I have adapted well. There is more to life than working in the garage. (At least until the virus hit).

The neighborhood has 418 homes on 500 acres, but most of the lots are small, with lots of common space. A few of the houses have a third garage space, but those are mostly used for storage or motorcycle parking. I have seen a total of one old car in the neighborhood, a 64 elCamino. Most garages are used for parking, with a few freezers, a few small Craftsman tool chests, and one or two small compressors. Most are empty other than the family cars, and maybe 5% just used for storage, since apparently Arizona hasn’t heard about basements yet.

A lot of the $750k- $5M houses have collector car garages and a few have detached shops or RV storage. Acreage in the desert also seems to have shops, but those areas seem pretty rough and susceptible to crime if left unattended for six months of the year.

 

[yeldogt]

Make any excuses -- facts are facts. It's just not important to home buyers for a special work area .... frankly it has not for a long time. If it ever was a huge plus.

And saying .. I don't care what the cost or look of the property ... I did it for myself. Does not address the OP's point of ... adding value.

We had no money issues growing up ..... part of our family time was working around the house. We may have played golf in the morning --- but, my dad and the "boys" worked around the house in the afternoon on a Saturday. My dad liked tools and making things. I also had shop and car class at school -- it was an elective after 7th grade shop. So --- I was introduced to doing these things at an early age. The number of people still taking the classes when I got to 12th was very small in my HS We had all the lawn equipment at home .... The vast majority of people around us had a lawn service -- this was the 70's when it was expensive for this kind of service.

Fast forward today. Up until last year I has stopped cutting my lawns (I do one now for the exercise) ... I have not changed any oil in a car in 25 years. It's not worth my time .. for what it costs. This is the modern reality .. when I was a kid even well off people still did some of this ... today. Nope.

Today -- A small army shows up and it's all over in 30min -- if that. $50 -- and I just saved 3hrs. The economy has changed .... however you want to look at it .......we have a "servant" class today.

 

[andyvh1959]

For probably most of us here, the garage is also a refuge, a place to hang out. Maybe I'm sick but I like tunes on the shop stereo and just looking at my cycles and rummaging ideas in my head. The garage is my hobby zone, happy zone, therapy in a way. If that all adds to my sanity then it has great value to me. Maybe its a regional thing too, because around here in east central Wisconsin extra garages and out buildings are very common on homes in the $150,000 and up range. Housing costs here are not bad really. Though I am still floored that a common new house around here these days is in the $250,000 range, like this: https://www.trulia.com/p/wi/kaukaun...auna-wi-54130--2054558091?mid=28#lil-mediaTab

I have always felt if I ever moved to another state it would be NE Arizona or SW Colorado. Well, forget that, the house costs are friggin ridiculous!! At my age (62) I will not accept a new mortgage, so anything I'd buy would have to be cash. In a small town similar to east central Wisconsin a damned mobile home on a tiny lot with no driveway or garage (looks more like a meth house) is selling for $165,000. This past year I did a lot of work in Louisville MS, nice little town halfway between Jackson and Memphis. House costs down there are very reasonable, but I could not stand the heat.

Nope, staying in Wisconsin until I am part of the dirt here.

 

[Parrothead]

...The plans I've seen for the newest subdivision "Community" starting in a couple of years has no space for someone to have RV/boat parking or anything close. These mid income homes would be lucky to fit a short one lane lap pool in the yard.

No shop sized lots or big garages built anymore, I don't get it, but the 40 and under crowd do I guess.

Free range for chickens, but coop us up! It's their moto.

Your post got me thinking.

I’ve lived in my house for 8+ years, and used the yard for enjoyment less than 5 times. Ever. Wow!

Unless it was for mowing, weeding, fertilizing, planting, trimming, edging or pruning, I just plain don’t go out there. I have a small wooded lot with a decent sized deck and a grill, but I never use the yard. There’s space for ********/horseshoes/quarters but we never do. Kind of amazing now that I think about it.

So in essence, I’m paying (and a good deal of paying) to work. On something I don’t really use. Ever. Why?

*most HOA’s don’t allow boats or RV’s.

 

[engineer2]

There is a website for people who are looking for homes with large garages. I used to subscribe to their newsletter. Amazing what is out there. We are not alone.

https://carproperty.com/

 

[vision8]

In The Great White North . I built my two storey five bedroom with walkout basement house and two car garage for us to live in for the rest of our life on 10 acres off the corner of the family farm .
I drew up the house plans , then dug the basement , cribbed and poured the foundation , then got Carpenters to frame the two storey structure . I assisted the plumber , electrician and HVAC to install services . Back layers and dry wallers were subbed . I did the soffits and garage doors . I do not imagine that many people would tackle this adventure ; six months from excavation to occupancy permit while working shift work .
I have been repairing vehicles in the drive way for 30 years .
Finally retired and scrapped together enough cash to get a 30 x 50 x 16 All Steel Shop with hoist , in floor heating and storage to house my John Deere tractor .
Both daughters would love to move into this location and both partners have interests to utilize the shop for wood working or vehicle storage or ???
I think it depends on the up brining of the next generation , social status and family circumstances that dictate the fate of your abode .

 

[Skiff Builder]

I built a detached 18 x 27 shed/shop/garage detached 2 years ago. Late 50's, won't be at my sleep for work house that much longer. Was cheap enough, self built, piers, wood floor, elec, heat. Nothing in there is permanent/ built in.

This is at a lake. When I sell it can be a garage /shop/ boat house/shed/yoga studio/gym/kids romper room etc.
I can also cut it down the ridgeline (rafters) and take the two 9 x 27 halves with me if I feel like it New buyers be damned! If they want it , that's ok too.

 

[yeldogt]

There is a website for people who are looking for homes with large garages. I used to subscribe to their newsletter. Amazing what is out there. We are not alone.

https://carproperty.com/

I pop on that occasionally -- some are so bad .... It fits into the McMansion tread I started a while back. As you click thorough it's endless tacky square footage.

I knew someone who built a stand alone one like the one on the site in Port Jefferson NY ... he was just like the building. Unfortunately, he had the boat next to me for two years



There is a site like that for people with airplanes.

 

[joyridin]

The net is that it sold for nearly a third more than any other home in the neighborhood, and everyone who looked at it was there because of the garage.

Mark

Are the Zillow 'estimates' very accurate at all? When I looked up the house you sold with the $125k shop, it looks like it is surrounded by house in that price range if not more. There is a similar sized house one street over for $892

I always thought a shop was like a pool also - you need to find the right buyer

 

[Higgins]

As a general statement, they younger couples aren't into stuff that would require an outbuilding.

The 2nd part of this topic is called location, location, location! We sold our house in Kane County, IL with a large 3 car detached garage. EVERY realtor said the garage was a detractor and didn't add anything to the sale of the property. Although, there were other properties in the areas with additional large sheds or garages.

Now move to central TN. Lot are larger, and a lot of the properties have one or two additional out buildings. People in TN have lots more stuff. Larger tractors, accessories, motor cycles, trailers, 4X4s, ATV's and we cant forget the occasional motor home and Large RVs. A lot of the new construction are building BIG barns to accommodate their large motor homes.

 

[Showkey]

Most of Arizona is the same way. Tiny lots with no room for a shop, unless you are willing to pay $750k or more.

The neighborhood has 418 homes on 500 acres, but most of the lots are small, with lots of common space. A few of the houses have a third garage space, but those are mostly used for storage or motorcycle parking. I have seen a total of one old car in the neighborhood, a 64 elCamino. Most gar.

Land cost $.....density maximizes profit.......the new suburbs are high density.

My daughter move to Texas 10 years ago, moved around 5 times ( military ) found the same suburban homes with 20’ long driveways, obviously no basements, so garages are storage. Parking on the street........
Postage stamp lots were certainly the norm in the $175-$250k market.

She recently moved to an older neighborhood with 1/2 acre and 60’ driveway. Over sized 2 car garage. $300k

Unfortunately no in-law suite.......but the motor home fits on the drivewa with room to spare.

Neighbor recently got back from his first winter in Phoenix........his observation was exactly the same.........new homes, very very small lots, small driveway ( his Tahoe did not fit) , no storage, literally 10’s of 1000s of nice homes crammed into a very small space. The area he stayed was new enough to not show on his navi.

 

[3onthetree]

We sold our house in Kane County, IL with a large 3 car detached garage. EVERY realtor said the garage was a detractor and didn't add anything to the sale of the property.

Probably because it was detached or was not consistent with the level of house. In mid-level+ price ranges for new construction, a 3 car is standard and expected, even for those not needing a shop. Plenty of garage lust in Kane County. The more urban you get, obviously the closer/smaller/more regulated the lots, even people who would like to have a garage shop prioritize living closer to work and amenities than being able to have a huge pole barn out in the stix.

Umm...this is in Indiana. In this particular subdivision the patio is where the grill goes, and the outdoor fireplace too. Look at the lots. $350-600k+

If you have a park and community pool/playground, that’s what people are looking for these days. They don’t want to be sod farming, and they certainly don’t care about working on anything.

It's just a matter of percentages. If car guys who want a big separate shop only number say 3% of the population, then most of the houses it will not be an amenity or increase value. The Hoosier Anderson Hall example you show is a planned unit development where they mix uses and styles. The piece you show is rear garage on an alley to promote porch socialization. But a couple blocks away is a cul-de-sac where all 8 of the owners can eventually build/expand a garage on their lot. Rounding up percentages maybe 1 car guy lives there and will choose to build one. I think I can already tell which house is his by the driveway size.