Impact of garage on house price

AndyTails

pledgeX wrote: »

Our house came with a garage on the deeds. The garage is in a compound around the corner and not attached to the house. We used to park a car in there, but it's too narrow for pretty much any modern car so it's no longer used.

I'm looking into the possibility of selling the garage and am trying to gauge the value of selling the garage separately and how that compares to how much value it would add to the property when trying to sell.

As I said, the garage is in a compound and too small for a car realistically, so I'm not sure how desirable this would be for a future buyer. Unless I owned a motorbike/classic car/jetski, or loads of tat that I needed to store, I know I wouldn't really care about it.

There is of course the option of renting the garage out, but I'd like to keep that out of the discussion as that's a whole separate line of investigation I'm looking into.

Talk to a friendly local estate agent. They're always willing to give free market estimates in the hope that you'll think of them when you actually sell, and they know what people are paying in the local market.


They can certainly tell you the difference in your house price with/without a garage, and they may also be able to tell you the value of the garage on its own.

tori.k

For us a garage was a must if there wasn't room enough or access into the garden as we have motorbikes to house. Parking can be a massive pain with younger people unable to get on the housing ladder as easily as they used to. Often leaving family's with four + cars to find parking for.
It sad to think that the house we are currently buying the biggest draw was the amount of off road parking that was available, we walked away from some stunning homes where parking has been such an issue we couldn't even consider them.

Clutterfree

aliby21 wrote: »

What is parking like? Do you have driveway parking, is it easy to park on the road? If parking is at a premium then I'd say having a garage is going to add value or at least make your house more attractive. Not all modern cars are that big, not all potential purchasers will check if their car fits the garage. If you have ample parking then the garage will not be so important.

^^^ This!
Do you have off road parking without the garage or is the only parking in front of the garage?
If the latter, then do not sell it off.
I'd never consider a property without parking and lots of people think the same.

goodwithsaving

I'm fussy with parking however I saw a house that had a garage in a block 3 minutes away and rejected it in favour of a house with on-road parking but in a nicer area. The block was covered in quite nasty, rude graffiti and I like to use a garage for parking. My current property has a garage, no driveway. I will certainly miss my garage when it comes to winter and de-icing the car and hope to be able to afford a bigger property with a garage next time.
I wouldn't buy a new build with a garage on that basis, you can't fit cars in them.
So to me, a garage is worth more on the house price and provided I could fit a car in it, I'd be willing to pay more (if I had the capacity to pay more and afford a larger property with one, which currently I don't!).

Hillbilly1

If yours ends up being the only house in the area not being sold with a garage when the other houses have them there will may be a financial cost but also a time cost when you sell.

If I was looking in X area and knew the houses had garages but the one I viewed didn't have one... I'd either negotiate hard or wait for one with a garage.

SuboJvR

We probably aren't representative but I can offer you some food for thought:

We wouldn't buy a house without a garage. We rent currently without, we have a fully sheltered car port, a shed and the spare room and loft house everything else. We just about cope but I'd be really frustrated if we owned this place as it doesn't fit our needs.

My husband has a motorbike (dust and muck still creep in under his bike shelter UNDER the car port).

We each have a few bicycles (different disciplines).

And my husband is quite outdoorsy - tents and such - and into DIY, so tools.

A garage also provides a good work out space if done well, but a person may not want to do that away from the house.

If you live somewhere (e.g. In the Peaks etc) where there's a lot of bikers, cyclists or outdoorsy folk then a garage is hugely desirable.

Some places have very few properties with garages - especially getting nearer into London. So that means locals aren't used to having them OR it can mean they are highly valued.

Parking is one of the main things. Our wish list meant two off road parking spaces with a garage and we have been really fortunate to find exactly that.

As I say though we may not be representative but just wanted to offer another view :-)

pledgeX

aliby21 wrote: »

What is parking like? Do you have driveway parking, is it easy to park on the road? If parking is at a premium then I'd say having a garage is going to add value or at least make your house more attractive. Not all modern cars are that big, not all potential purchasers will check if their car fits the garage. If you have ample parking then the garage will not be so important.

We don't have a driveway. We have a front garden which could be converted into a driveway big enough for 1 car, but there may be problems getting planning permission for the dropped kerb due to a tree in the vicinity.

There's a reasonable amount of parking on the road. It's double yellow, or permit parking so you don't get many non-residents around. You're allowed up to two permits per household, but they're only 2/3 bed houses so I think it's probably rare to need more more than 2 permits. The residents are not allocated spaces, it's just a free for all but there's plenty of space currently. Of course all this could all change in a few years.

exiled_red

How much does a parking permit cost?

The lack of readily available parking makes the garage more valuable in my opinion, off street parking can be quite valuable especially if a parking permit is fairly expensive

pledgeX

exiled_red wrote: »

How much does a parking permit cost?

Peanuts. £30 odd for the first permit, £70 odd for the second (for a year)

Ozzuk

Do you have a mortgage? Mortgage company will need to approve any material change. If you sell you can't control who uses that area - would there be any privacy/access concerns? What if someone uses it as a workshop?

If you can get a nice cash sum for an under-used asset then it sounds great, I'd just be mindful of the above potential issues.