Re: How imortant is a basement!?

That's a tough one. When definitely wanted a basement but looked at houses without one. Some had no basement but an attic, other a basement but no attached garage, in the end we completely lucked out- our house has a full basement, attic, and an attached garage. If you love everything else about the house and really think you can live without it, go for it, otherwise I would keep looking.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

if you have one or the other that would be fine. We have no garage but a basement. In your case if you have a large backyard you can always had a storage shed if things get out of hand.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

I think basement is important for storage purposes, so if you have a big garage or an attic you should be ok.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

I personally don't need a basement. I would only be concerned about resale.

Where I live (NC) most houses don't have them and although I miss the extra storage, it's not as bad as I thought it would be AND basements scare me anyway.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

We are in FL and there are no basements in any of the houses. We use our garage for a lot of storage and our attic. We have shelves put up in the garage and those space saver bags for extra clothes.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

We have both an attic and a basement (and a garage and a shed). I honestly use the basement way more than the attic. Even with the pull down staircase, it's way more convenient for storage than the attic.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

I don't have a basement. But I have a 1.5 size garage.

I suggest you take a closer look at the closet situation too.

I barely have closets. My house always look like a mess. I don't have a place to store anything.

Attic is way to hot for most items.

Our Garage is not insulated. Which also means I can't store a lot of thing in it either.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

Such a tough one. I always had a basement in the past (big storage dump for us because unfinished)

I no longer have a basement now, and miss having the storage. I do have good space above the garage with regular stairs up to it for storing, and a lot of our attick was finished off to make a nice office/playroom/guest room area.

I do however, miss having a basement, and the option to have a finished one increasing living space because as you have children it seems you collect LOTS of stuff..I would also love a place for exercise equipment..I have no space for that now.

My MIL has an awsome finished basement, and it really doubled her living area..

ok..so that didn't help. I guess my real response is if you love everything else..a shed shoudl do it Good luck

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

I guess it's a personal preference...I wouldn't buy a house without a basement though.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

its defin personal preference, I 100% wanted a basement. when we remodeled we actually extended the basement as well to give us even more room.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

i grew up w/ a basement. we have one now, i dont know how i would live with out one, even if it has become a storage place, im not one to go crawling in an attic

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

We don't have a basement and I wish we did. That will be a must have for the next house.

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

it was a must for us. DH insists on a "man cave" and i don't like laundry room on the first floor (just a personal pet peeve of mine lol)

Re: How imortant is a basement!?

well we were so insistent on wanting one, got one, and can't use it because it floods from time to time--just to put things in perspective. we didn't find out about the water until after we bought. sellers do a good job of hiding things like that.

i'd take a place with a crawl space given my new perspective on it, especially if you have other places for storage. however, many men and homeowners in my life warned me like crazy about a house on a slab because getting in to repair things like leaks/pipes is a complete nightmare.