Considering buying a new build house/flat over garages. Need your guidance & thoughts!

ilyowa1

Hi All,
Considering buying a "flat over garage" type house. Sort of in between a flat and a house.
Image of the house: https://ibb.co/MDHhqLF 
Me and my partner would own the garage next to the entrance + all the above space (695 square feet/64.5 square meters)

List of my pros/cons below, want to know what you guys think. Any feedback appreciated:

Pros:

• new build
• solid builder company
• not a bad neighborhood (10 min drive to the city center)
• whole development around are new builds
• own garage
• own garden in the back
• 695 sq/feet (64.5 square meters)

Cons:

• living above the garages
• potential noise nuisance due to neighbors driving in an out and slamming the garage doors
• no access to the garden through the back (have to go out the main entrance and go around)
• nearby railway(!)
• resale interest? not your standard solution for a house. Cautious of the fact there might not be a lot of interest in a few years when ready to move on.

AnotherJoe

Any one of your cons would make it a solid "No" from me, put them altogether, why are you even asking? Are they a fiver each ?

davidmcn

Assuming this is England/Wales, you'll have some sort of leasehold involvement in the block (potentially you owning the freehold with the other people's garages being leasehold) as effectively this is a block of flats, which complicates matters a bit.

cattie

Unless the property is incredibly cheap I wouldn't want to have to go out of my front door to reach my  garden. I had an ex boyfriend who bought a 1 bed house with this arrangement & personally I'd have paid a little extra to have my own garden entrance from within the property.

When it comes to resale, all properties will find a buyer providing it is priced to sell & yes there could be limited interest due to the cons you've mentioned.

HanPop

Personally I would try to avoid this type of flat. I think I would worry about the other 2 garages that weren’t mine and what the neighbours might be doing in their garages. For example imagine if they were into cars and were tinkering with one in there all of the time and it was v noisy. Also will they have parking in front of their garages? I would be concerned about that too as for example my husband works on call and has to go out in the middle of the night sometimes and that might disturb you if your neighbour does shift work. I know most places have neighbours’ drives next to them but underneath the noise would be worse. I do like new builds though, is there anything else you can afford on this estate? 

AnotherJoe

"Hi  EA I'm interested  In properties where someone can have their car engine running and emitting toxic fumes right below my living accommodation whilst they tinker with it on a  Sunday morning for hours , do you have anything like that on your books?"

"Well, now you come to mention it, we do have one going for a song, been up for sale for two years, no idea why it's taking so long to sell,  it's lovely inside" 

ilyowa1

AnotherJoe said:

"Hi  EA I'm interested  In properties where someone can have their car engine running and emitting toxic fumes right below my living accommodation whilst they tinker with it on a  Sunday morning for hours , do you have anything like that on your books?"

"Well, now you come to mention it, we do have one going for a song, been up for sale for two years, no idea why it's taking so long to sell,  it's lovely inside" 

Ha!

AdrianC

There have been a good few recent threads from people who've bought these "coachhouses" and had shenanigans with the garage occupants...

RelievedSheff

We did consider one of these coach house style properties a few years back and in many ways it was the ideal property for us being low maintenance, detached and with great rental opportunity later down the line. It was the leasehold that eventually stopped us buying the property.

kangoora

My next door neighbour likes to tinker with his car/motorbike. Occasionally, we get some really loud noises while he 'redlines' the engine, especially on the bike, presumably testing for something - this is in a detached garage about 10m away. Imagine if that was going on under your floorboards!