WWYD- get rid of garage?

My husband and I were thinking of expanding the first floor and taking out the garage and having a bigger living room.
The thing is, when/if we do decide to sell, would that be a big turnoff for people that look (no garage)?
We do plan on putting a shed or something for storage in the yard.
it will add ALOT of space.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

My friend recently bought a home that had the garage converted into a large living room, the house has no basement and no attic, and she is quickly realizing she has nowhere to store anything. A garage AND basement are a must for me, so I would not get rid of the garage.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

I have no dining room. I was told many times to convert the garage but I won't for resale value.

I have no basement and tiny to none existent closets.

I cannot take this garage for living space. It might be an issue for resale. So I am still considering an extention.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

I went from a detached 2 car garage down in my first house to 1 car attached garage in my second house and I miss my 2 car garage.

Personally, I would not buy a house with no garage.

Message edited 7/26/2010 6:10:37 PM.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

we are in the middle of our house being dormered and we added a garage because we have no basement, attic and just 1 shed.
we had no room for anything.. and now with 2 kids.. we just needed it.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

Personally we wouldn't even have looked at a house that did not have a garage. But in looking for houses many on the South Shore out where we were looking (lindenhurst, W. babylon area) did not have them.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

It depends. My house had a 1/2 garage, and an attic, basement and room for a shed. For us it didnt matter that the car wont fit in the garage. I dont think many people actually use the garage for their car so as long as you have other storage areas you should consider it. Our garage could be converted back to a full size if the next owner really wanted to. Could you design your living room so that you only use half of the garage to leave you with the storage?

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

We didn't even look at houses that didn't have garages.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

No we didnt consider houses without garages!

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

We don't have a garage, and it's one thing I don't like about our house. If we ever move, we definitely have to have a garage. I'm trying to figure out how I can squeeze a garage on our property in the future.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

We almost bought a house without a garage. Thankfully we did not/ If we move in the future we will never not have at least 1 garage.

Its a must have for us!

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

we don't have a garage, but we have a full attic and a large shed. the previous owners converted the garage into living space. we love the extra living space, so for us it doesn't matter. our shed and attic seem to work for us right now. it's a challenge some times, but we have made the most of our house and we continue to make the most of the house so we can live there for a long time to come.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

I think having a garage is a huge plus.

I have seen before where people have converted just part of their garage where the back half is a room/ext of a room etc and the first half is still a garage - you could do something like that

But I would not get rid of the garage completely. When we were looking we dind't even look at homes without garages and converted garages were always a huge turn off for me - I don't like how it looks when there is a window or door in a spot where it's obvious a garage should be - JMO

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

for me, i know i wanted a garage. for both the extra storage space and then somewhere to park the car when it snows, etc.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

we have a very large full basement, two big sheds & I still wish we had a garage!!

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

as long as you have a large shed and a large basement i wouldn't see it as a huge problem. We have a converted garage into a bedroom/den area but we have no shed currently and it is a PIA but we have a HUGE basement so it helps and we have a partially finished attic space.

I might look into how much of a pain would it be to build a detached one car garage or just stick with a shed next year.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

We don't consider houses that don't have a garage.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

We purchased a home where the garage was partially converted into living space. I love the difference it made on the inside and we still have room for things in the garage (lawn mower, rakes, bikes, etc). However, storage space is very important. We never would have considered the house if it didn't also have a full attic, full basement and a shed. Some people may not like the idea of a converted garage but there are SO many in my neighborhood, it's the norm.

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

Re: WWYD- get rid of garage?

I personally wouldn't do it.