Would You Buy…a Garage?

Photo courtesy of Carolina Structural

Garages are great for all sorts of thing — storing odds and ends such as Christmas ornaments, extra furniture, that classic car, or the brand new treadmill that you keep telling yourself you’ll bring inside. But what is more important — the garage or the home? When thinking of buying a property — are you thinking of buying a garage that happens to have a house or a house that happens to have a garage?

There’s an interesting discussion on the topic of garages in Zillow Discussions started by VerveWeb. For some potential buyers, a garage would add considerable value to a property — it means they don’t have to build the garage themselves. My dad is certainly one of those men who love a large garage; after all, he’s built a large garage on three of the last four homes he has owned (I think the garage turned out larger than the house in two of three cases). And, obviously, my dad is not alone. One poll on Zillow asks “How important is a garage to you?” — 71% of the 624 people who have voted say that a garage is VERY important and they would not buy a home without one. MollyRose chimed in on the discussion with this comment -

The detached 4-car garage (perfect match to the brick house) is what made my husband and I buy our present home. It is attractive and he had to have covered storage for his classic cars. The house also has an attached 2-car garage for our everyday cars. Now I have the house I always wanted and he has his own private garage that he is remodeling to have his dream car garage complete with TV, fridge, lounge area. It is a large garage 1500 SF but it is away from the house far enough so that it does not compete.

So, what do you think? Would you (or your significant other) buy a garage that happens to have a house?