Garage or no garage.

clarryparrot

My OH has had a horrendous family circumstance which has meant he has a lot of debt.
In Jan he went onto a repayment plan which gave us some more disposable income.
We have a 2 yr fix (ends in August) which HSBC has told us we can port, since the defaults that occurred this year happened whilst we were fixed with them, and we've kept up mortgage payments. We have to move because of a new job in a new location, but our budget is WAY less than we thought as the default has had a terrible impact on the rates.
We've found a house we want, in budget. We can fork out an extra 20k for a garage with the home. The house is small so this would be useful. We can afford house + garage, but my concern is when remo comes around next year, we will have wished we had ploughed that 20k into reducing the mortgage, or possibly reducing OH debt. But the garage is desirable and sellable.

Rock and hard place. Garage or no garage?

dimbo61

Hopefully you can get another deal with your existing lender.
New deals for existing customers.
However rates WILL have gone up.
A garage will just become an expensive storage shed with poor security.
Would you have 2 parking spaces with a garage ? Electric point for charging an electric car ?

Clueless56

I would save the money.  Unless you have a motorbike/very small car, your garage won't be useable except for storage and, as dimbo61 says, with poor security.  

I have only lived in 2 houses with garages and neither time could I fit my car in, so they became what I called storage until I moved when I had to concede they were actually junk repositories.  

housebuyer143

As someone who lived in a house with no garage and little storage and now has one, I find it invaluable. It is integral though and don't think I would like it half as much if I had to go outside to access it. 

jj_43

Financially for you it seems wiser to reduce your mortgage or debt.

goodwithsaving

I have had houses with garages, and always put my car in there even when it's a squeeze (that is, after all what they were designed for). In the case of a newer property, I wouldn't bother if the garage is in a block. If it's attached to a house and makes it look a bit nicer then yes, but perhaps in your case you'd be better off reducing mortgage or debt, as @jj_43 says

simon_or

HSBC is letting you port and borrow more inspite of a poor credit history? That's really good of them, as Santander didn't let me do this, though this was a very long time ago now.

marcia_

 I don't drive but I am glad I have a garage. 

 Although full of junk I really should get rid of I have my deep freezer, dryer and washing machine in there. It is attached no internal access but was easy to put electric and plumbing in. 

clarryparrot

simon_or said:

HSBC is letting you port and borrow more inspite of a poor credit history? That's really good of them, as Santander didn't let me do this, though this was a very long time ago now.

No sorry - no extra borrowing, but the house + garage = what we've sold our place for, so we wouldn't have any equity left to reduce mortgage. House on its own gives us £20k to keep.