Started with a one-car. Took down a wall (lost a bedroom) filled the space with garage. Took down another wall (lost another bedroom) filled it with more garage.
Still have three bedrooms left, but need more garage. Started stacking cars and looking for a new house/
It's called no HOA. I'm in "suburbia" but I don't have an HOA to deal with and I live outside the city limits so there in no zoning to even worry about outside of water permit needed. I picked this house for a reason. It's not a dream home or the perfect location. But it's not too bad to my wives work and my work is just 4 miles away.
There will be a new detached 3 car garage built probably next year with a storage loft.
Thankfully most of the older neighborhoods we are looking at are non-HOA, which I would never buy into an HOA area anyways.
Apis- I don't think my wife would be too thrilled if I start tearing down walls and converting rooms to extra garage space.
If I can find a place with a long enough yard in the back I can probably run a driveway all the way back to the end of the property and just stack the cars up like that. But now I seriously want a rollback truck to combine the trailer and truck into one unit, one less thing to have to renew tags on.
The only downside that ive heard of is that a 'regular' car insurance company might not be willing to insure a tow truck as a 'regular' vehicle, and actual tow truck drivers pay 5k+/yr in liability insurance. There is probably some way around it. I want an old rollback too.
Look for houses in blue collar areas. If you see cars that haven't moved in years, consider this a good thing - you will be among kindred spirits. 
Downside? If you have kids, the schools are often not the greatest.
This is why I like where I live, despite it being some 50 miles and and hour-plus away from where I work. If I were to find a similar house closer to work, the mortgage and taxes would leave me with no play money and I'd be miserable. As much as I hate my commute, I don't hate it that much.
I'd be weary of the roll-back. As cool as they are, they jsut scream "commercial vehicle" which may or may not be allowed in some areas. My twp has an ordinance about them, although it's not heavily enforced (as mentioned, even less in the area where I live).
Vigo wrote: The only downside that ive heard of is that a 'regular' car insurance company might not be willing to insure a tow truck as a 'regular' vehicle, and actual tow truck drivers pay 5k+/yr in liability insurance. There is probably some way around it. I want an old rollback too.
If it's old enough, it may qualify for classic registration and insurance. There are use-restrictions, but if used for private/fun stuff, it would work.
I bought in a "transitional" neighborhood. Duplexes mostly but I bought the whole thing a knocked down a wall to make it a larger single family home. Driveway goes around back to large paved area and two separate one car garages in the basement (fall away lot). DD/autocross car in one side, SWMBO car on other, tow pig (suburban) outside and tenants car outside as well. Room for another 6 if I had to but the car dance to get out would be frustrating. 8x10 garden shed for mowers and such does wonders for opening up the garages. Space under the deck is good for big bulky items (motorcycle carcas and sets of tires and wheels)
All on 1/3 acre and everything is off the street in a fenced yard.
Vigo wrote: The only downside that ive heard of is that a 'regular' car insurance company might not be willing to insure a tow truck as a 'regular' vehicle, and actual tow truck drivers pay 5k+/yr in liability insurance. There is probably some way around it. I want an old rollback too.
Hmm interesting. I'll have to check into that, would have never crossed my mind.
As with others in the thread, I did it with a combo of thinning the fleet and getting off-site storage and workspace. I reduced my overall per-month cost by a bit, and use the time saved in yardwork and house upkeep to get back and forth.
I found the downsizing to be an awesome exercise in being realistic. It forced me to face the reality of a couple "get around to it someday" projects that were actually dead weight I carried around while they rotted. It turns out that I don't need eight bicycles, two at home and two in storage will do. I don't need three AE86s and another two car's worth of spares, one car and one set of spares is fine. Once I got into thinking laterally, the new freedom became nice, and any reduction in lawnmowing and gutter cleaning is great news in my book!
The other benefit for me is that when I head to the shop to work, I tend to do more in one go than I did when it was at home.
JohnRW1621 wrote: I did the most and had the most when I had the least about of space.
This. Probably because the more space I have, the more E36 M3 I have, and the less time I can spend on it.
Right now I have a nice 3BR house with a pretty large 2 car garage and enough parking for at least 10 cars total. My miata sits in the garage covered with home improvement stuff. In the driveway I have 2 neglected DDs. I haven't autocrossed in over a year.
I'm starting to realize that the effort required to have the space to work on cars is significantly more time (or money) than working on cars itself. I'm ready to move to a tiny place in town, bike to work, and enjoy crazy amounts of free time on the evening and weekends.
rcutclif wrote: get a long driveway. Make sure the garage is detached and behind the house, then the driveway can run all the way past the house. I have a 2 car garage and a 4/5 car driveway. (single car width, which is more than a little annoying, but works).
Same basic set up here on my .25 acre lot. 2 1/2 car detached garage back to the right of the house with an 8+ car driveway. I had a small part of the front yard paved as a 1 car side parking spot so I can at least get by my wife's car. It works.
I think for me it is especially difficult to 'downsize' considering that a lot of the cars i have are so off-beat that the only way i'd be able to 'sell' them is to scrappers. I am kind of single-handedly keeping some of these particular vehicles in existence. Luckily for me, covered storage is not such a big need because here in Central Texas, given a little shade, outside storage is actually better than a lot of 'covered/indoor' storage up north.
I'm starting to realize that the effort required to have the space to work on cars is significantly more time (or money) than working on cars itself.
Oh, i completely agree. That's one of the ways i sort out who is a kindred spirit to me and who isn't. People at the very noob end of the car spectrum buy the 'coolest' car they can 'afford' and have dedicated almost nothing in the way of space, tools, or ability to do anything to the vehicle other than drive it. At the other end of the spectrum are people who have accumulated tons of space, tools, and ability, who often gravitate to vehicles that need so much work that, to the people at the other end, the cars might as well be a block of wood carved into the shape of a car.
Obviously it takes both kinds. But i usually feel a bit more kinship with people who own piles of crap that they COULD transform into great things, then with people who bought-not-built their way into a stock vehicle and have to ask for help doing the simplest car tasks with no real intention of ever being able to do it themselves.
Watch out for HOA's and city ordinances that restrict land use. You don't want to clash with either of them because they usually win.
The only time my HOA got upset is when I swapped a Subie motor in my driveway. They just emailed me to keep my projects in the garage next time.
Like others have said, group storage rental or just plain garage rental close by would work OK.
We have a double attached garage and a driveway that will fit two vehicles and I park my tow rig on the grass between our house and my one neighbors.....only problem....I have 5 cars. SWMBO has her Jeep and a company truck that is fully paid for by her work. I have my truck, a Montero and a 96 Mustang. Luckily my buddy and I decided to turn my Mustang into a track project car and it will be stored at his place in a garage. Ive been wanting a small acreage for as long as I can remember so I can have a shop and storage....the wife is not as convinced. Heres what Im working with:
.25 acre, thats HUGE! I live on .10 acre, no joke. Lot is 25 ft wide, garage is 20 foot wide, and 48 foot deep, yard is only about 50 ft long and no way to get a car into it without an air lift. Indoor parking for 4 plus all my crap it does pose a limit. I can park a car or 2 on the road if it's licenced and insured. I do keep my trailer at a buddy's house and one car and some larger tools at a second 2 car garage I have across town. I'd love more space but I also love where i live and large yards are few and much more expensive.
Ugh, I feel your pain. When I moved here, I basically had to chose to live close to work and pay higher rent or live an hour or more away, pay lower rent and have more room. I chose to live close to work but I'm kinda regretting it. I live in a small townhouse with a shared driveway. The tiny subdivision has an HOA but they don't bother me since I rent (but they do own the unit I'm in). I have one of the longest driveways of all the houses here but it is because I am the first unit inside of the gate and the driveway curves to meet the road at a 90°. I can fit 2 vehicles in the driveway and one in the single car garage. The garage is tiny. I can barely fit my Wrangler in there and I have to pull it out to do anything. I can't even walk around it with the garage door closed. There is hardly any storage in the house/garage. I use the spare bedroom for a storage room. I'd love to have a 2+ bedroom house with at least a 2 car garage and a backyard (I have an 8x8' patio as a backyard).
I have 3 vehicles (Jeep, Mustang and Blazer) but I used to have an XJ Cherokee as well. I finally just started parking them at work. We have a huge parking lot that I can hide my vehicles in (shhh 
). Seriously, it is ginormous:
If you look carefully over the blue Cavalier's rear window, you can see the Blazer (that's for sale) and my Mustang parked adjacent to it.
Aerial shot:
I moved from a 2500 sqft house with a 20x20 garage to a 1000 sqft house with a 24x36 3 car tall ceiling detached and a 15x20 1.5 car attached. Problem solved.
I moved from a 2500 sqft house with a 20x20 garage to a 1000 sqft house with a 24x36 3 car tall ceiling detached and a 15x20 1.5 car attached. Problem solved.
That is EXACTLY the thing that i need! Well done!
I'm moving from .25 acre with a long,wide driveway and a house with 3 garages to a raised house (no garage) with parking for 3 vehicles under it. Had to sell the truck, trailer, and race car. Now I have to juggle 3 spots with 4 vehicles. Fortunately one is a Miata, and the other a golf cart. Sometimes you just have to sacrifice something to accomplish the big project. Still miss the race car, though, and the truck and trailer would have been real helpful for the move.
93gsxturbo wrote: I moved from a 2500 sqft house with a 20x20 garage to a 1000 sqft house with a 24x36 3 car tall ceiling detached and a 15x20 1.5 car attached. Problem solved.
If i could find this kind of deal I would be all over it. I've scoured the area on google maps looking for houses with this setup in the area I want to be, so far I haven't found any. Time to start the grid searching.
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