Don't refuse to consider the ability to build a serious seperate garage. Kit or custom built. There's a lot to be said for a garage that is not attached to the house.
Don't refuse to consider the ability to build a serious seperate garage. Kit or custom built. There's a lot to be said for a garage that is not attached to the house.
Last time we bought a house in the country with a 1.5 acre lot and essentially a 5 car garage. The house was way too big for the two of us at 3500 sq ft, but we had to move in a hurry.
This time we are building to get what we want. More garage space generally means bigger, more expensive house otherwise. We've managed to find a builder that can fit a 6 car garage, 3000 sq ft house on a 1/4 acre in a great neighborhood close to shopping, etc. hopefully we never have to move again !
Absolutely hold your ground about your desires. Any maybe wife #2 will let you have them, it there's any money left after paying off wife #1 
Me: I want a 3rd garage Her: Why? No more garages! Me: I was going to put a sunroom on top of it. Her: I wonder what kind of floor tile would be best in the new room
Sometimes you have to distract them with bright, shiny things
How much do you guys pay for some of your houses? They don't sound very GRM budget friendly. We are trying to stick to a 250k budget which has very few 3 car garages in it. 
In reply to jonnyd330:
4 garage bays, 3 bedrooms, FROG, around 1900sqft. under 170K.
One thing to look for if you're will to give up ceiling height for floor space is a good basement. We realized the only way we could get a decent garage at a reasonable price was do look for a basement garage. Worked out great other than the fact that I can't have a lift. I ended up with ~1100sqft of garage space for the price of a two car normal garage. (used) It's a 3/2 for around 170.
jonnyd330 wrote: How much do you guys pay for some of your houses? They don't sound very GRM budget friendly. We are trying to stick to a 250k budget which has very few 3 car garages in it.
OP here.
We're hunting in the $150K to $200K range.
I'm blessed to live in west Michigan, which has very affordable housing, in very nice areas.
The options are more limited to click the garage/shop potential, but they're out there. At this point we are not looking to buy, but we still go look at houses to learn the neighborhood/value/etc. so we're more prepped when we're ready to pull the trigger.
For reference, here's a few we're going to drive by this weekend in the school districts we like on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, MI.
On the low end this is a basic 3BR ranch on a full acre with an existing pole barn for $108K. It has vinyl siding and a new roof, but would need about $20K+ in love to get it up to par, i.e. new kitchen/bathrooms/flooring/windows/etc. but at the end of the day we'd still be stuck with a fairly basic 3BR ranch which the wife dislikes. http://www.grar.com/property/mls/12035861
In the middle range, I think this is a neat compromise. We currently live in a 40's house, and we both love older homes with more character. For $165K, this has a kickass old carriage house/loft in the backyard that could become a sweet workshop. I'd just want to add a basic 2-car garage for the daily driver's, so would have to check out city code/property room/etc. A block from the river/parks/etc. and very nice home upgrades already done.
http://www.grar.com/property/mls/12031830
Towards the upper end for $175K here's a newish '09 built home on 2 acres! Plenty of room to build a proper barn/garage some time in the future. http://www.grar.com/property/mls/12026090
For some of you in expensive parts of the country, you might be surprised what we can get here in Michigan for less than $200K. If I forego the big garage, I could sit on my deck and watch sunsets across the all-sports lake in Rockford for $189K. Home isn't actually waterfront, but has private lake access. Would be a fun family spot if you're into wakeboarding / tubing / etc. I'm not crazy about this house specifically based on land locked 2-car garage, but if we could find one with a 3-car garage with lake access that we liked I'd strongly consider it. http://www.grar.com/property/mls/12010454
jonnyd330 wrote: How much do you guys pay for some of your houses? They don't sound very GRM budget friendly. We are trying to stick to a 250k budget which has very few 3 car garages in it.
All depends where you live and what a 250k house looks like.
I bought a house 12 years ago for 210k on a half acre with a detached 3 car garage. Later, I spent about 30k and had the garage doubled so it became a 6 car tandem arrangement, with the workshop area in a back corner. Sold that house for about 270k a couple years ago. This was in the Houston area.
Wife and I looked at 9 houses in 1 day when house shopping. 1 stood out to us and we went to look at it again the following day before putting in an offer. Caught the sellers off guard as it had been on the market (regular sale) for less than a month.
Location definitely drives prices. An hour north, I would not be surprised if our property/house would be worth 150-200% of what we paid, maybe more. 20 minutes east, we were looking at larger houses, but with much smaller garages and much smaller lots and many more neighbors and rules, in the same price range.
As it stands we paid $195k for a 1800sq ft single level home, 1.8 acres, 28x28 detached garage and asphalt driveway the size of a small parking lot in between. Lots of trees and solitude, although neighbors aren't too far away. No kids here so we weren't terribly concerned with school type stuff. I don't know what the PO paid for the house, but county assessments previously had the property assessed at $278k.
Our primary concern was a fenced yard for the dogs. This house did not have it. And it still doesn't. So we are still taking dogs out on a leash and I walk them after work every day. Compromises, compromises.
i've got nothing to add other than it is very interesting to see the different ways people compromise with their spouse on these kinds of things.
Basil Exposition wrote:jonnyd330 wrote: How much do you guys pay for some of your houses? They don't sound very GRM budget friendly. We are trying to stick to a 250k budget which has very few 3 car garages in it.All depends where you live and what a 250k house looks like. I bought a house 12 years ago for 210k on a half acre with a detached 3 car garage. Later, I spent about 30k and had the garage doubled so it became a 6 car tandem arrangement, with the workshop area in a back corner. Sold that house for about 270k a couple years ago. This was in the Houston area.
You have that right, if I wanted to live about 40 minutes away in the middle of nowhere I could probably get an acre lot, 3000 sq ft with a 4 car garage for $250k new construction.
I found that the key to getting anything in marriage is to first have it as a pre-existing condition. Crappy-hasn't-run-in-10-years-bike is easy to turn into a new sport bike compared to brining up the motorcycle converstation when there is nothing to go from. I had two cars, a motorcycle, and a ton of tools when I got married, so I told my wife (aka the best wife in the world, but that's another story) that if she wanted to park in a garage we needed room for all of that stuff first. Suddenly my priority became our priority.
That said, it really doesn't apply here. I got a 22x30 detached shop and a 20x24 attached garage on a 1700sqft house for $185k in the minneapolis suburbs. I love the detached garage because the seperate heating keeps dust and smell out of the house.
Also, when I was shopping I told my relator he was fired if he showed me anything that didn't have four cars worth of space.
OP in Michigan you might want to consider a mixed-used zoned commercial property. In the ~$200k range including (assumed) full kitchen/bath renovation (DIY, mat'ls only) you should be in the 5-10k sq ft range. But you must be willing to live in a non-traditional setting, this is the biggest stumbling block. Many people say they would love to have a big shop but wouldn't consider living in a commercial property even though the prices as compared to a 'normal' subdivision house aren't so different.
I'm in SE Mi and my wife and I are in a ~6k foot mixed use building with 3 floors, loft, commercial, shop of about ~2k sq ft each. But I am lucky because my wife shares my housing tastes and would prefer not to live in a typical suburban environment. She likes having coffee shops, restaurants, parks, grocers, etc. no further than a few blocks away, all walking distance. The big issue in my area would be the public school system, which is very poor, but there are parochial and private schools close by which many people in 'good' school districts pay to go to anyway.
I don't think zoning is as much of an issue as it was when the economy was booming, nowadays I think lots of cities are willing to make concessions for the sake of property tax revenue (something is better than nothing). But you have to be willing to deal with that, which might require 'selling' your idea to the local authorities. When I bought my building the shop area did not have a car door, part of my sales contract included a provision that the local authorities would allow me to install a full sized garage door as well as use of the area as an automotive shop space. So I did have to do extra work to get approvals from the city in the midst of the sale (on a property I didn't even own yet), but I think it was worth it in the end as it all worked out.
Here's a couple out your way: http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/off/3136626833.html http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/off/3075098412.html http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/off/3106223007.html http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/off/3087621365.html
My wife and I would prefer our same setup in a real city like Chicago but that would require millions, is not possible. Realistically we would like this same setup (but bigger in every respect) but right on the water of one of the great lakes, the trick is to keep your eyes open.
I bought my house while I was single = no comprimises with the wimenz. I found an unloved home in forclosure, but it had the 3 main things I wanted: 2 car attatched garage, 2 bathrooms, and a flat lot with enough room behind it for a detatched garage in the future. I lowballed them on the offer and got the house for 98k (15k less than the asking price) I put about 3k in the house for carpet and paint and have loved it ever since. If I ever do move on to a different home, it will have to have all of the above, plus a basement.
You'll need to log in to post.
