Selling/Buying a House in Today's Market

[falafel]

Sounds like it should be easy to convert back to a garage. I've found over the years that home improvements like that are really not that difficult.

That would include knocking down the exterior wall and reinstalling the garage door. Even then I'd be parking on travertine. No thanks.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I will sell you my place for $145/sq. ft. today. You're down here enough that you should have your own pad.

I like having a free hotel room and easy access to craps.

[Pheidippides]

My biggest regret is not having a 3-car garage. Not worth moving for in our case, but man I wish we had an extra bay.

This is a huge reason for our move.

[falafel]

I like having a free hotel room and easy access to craps.

I've got lots of crap around my house.

[Donuthole]

I've never seen a house without a kitchen open to a great room and a walk in pantry. Here's our list:

There are some funky floor plans around here. While those things are pretty common in newer construction, closed-off kitchens were not exactly uncommon just 15 years ago. For some reason Vegas has a lot of floor plans (even some newer ones) where you walk in the front door and you're right in the great room, while the kitchen is tucked back behind a wall with a much smaller living area nearby. We (like most families with more than a kid or two) prefer the reverse, i.e. is walking into an entry with a smaller sitting area, but with a large great room off the kitchen. And there are a number of houses here--even big houses--where the pantry is a complete afterthought. That's why it's on Mrs D's list.

Master bedroom downstairs (again, I've only seen one house that didn't have this)

I like the master downstairs with all the other bedrooms upstairs. Mrs. D prefers the master to be upstairs, but it isn't a deal breaker for either of us. Here, if the master is upstairs, there is usually a separate bedroom/bathroom combo on the main level. It makes for a nice guest room, but it also pretty much relegates that room to being a guest room forever, as I doubt we would ever put our kids in a room downstairs while the rest of the family was upstairs.

[cougjunkie]

$100 a square-foot seems likr s deal in Texas until you see the property tax.

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[Uncle Ted]

My biggest regret is not having a 3-car garage. Not worth moving for in our case, but man I wish we had an extra bay.

My previous home had a 3-car garage and a pool with a diving board. Now we have a deep 2-car garage and no pool. Of course, we are within walking distance the city pool/water park and light rail that we can ride for nearly a 100 miles not see the same stop. The public schools are awesome. Embrace the future and get in while you can...

[Uncle Ted]

$100 a square-foot seems likr s deal in Texas until you see the property tax.

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You can keep the lawyers from starving and fight your property taxes in Texas. Try to do that with your state income taxes.

[Paperback Writer]

This is a huge reason for our move.

+1.
I wanted the 3-car garage when we built our current home but the builder wouldn't really work with us and my spouse wasn't totally sold on it it so we stayed with the standard garage. The following year I was helping a work colleague move into his new house. I noticed some similarities to my house and inquired about his builder - we had the same builder. And he had a 3+ car garage to house his boat and 2 cars.

I recently moved from a no garage home to a four car garage. When we moved in I thought we had so much space in our garage (none of my kids are of diving age yet, so we only have two vehicles). However, a year later and now and its seems that I have to reorganize our crap every month or so because somehow 4 kids and a wife will find a way to fill whatever space you have available. Long story short, it seems like you a one more car garage than whatever you currently have.

I have to do the same. We have some storage space in the front of the garage and it's constantly filling up stuff from the wife and kids. I thought the solution was to buy a large Costco shed to store the lawn mower and outdoor tools and other stuff. And still the front of the garage is a constant mess; at least the stuff I need to access on a regular basis is still organized out in the storage shed. I caused a small maritial crisis by buying and utilizing a car cover for my convertible muscle car that takes up my half of the garage because the wife could no longer dump stuff onto its seats. Nothing like wanting to take the convertible out for a joy ride and find the contents of the latest trip to Costco or hobby lobby on the seats.

[Pheidippides]

+1.
I wanted the 3-car garage when we built our current home but the builder wouldn't really work with us and my spouse wasn't totally sold on it it so we stayed with the standard garage. The following year I was helping a work colleague move into his new house. I noticed some similarities to my house and inquired about his builder - we had the same builder. And he had a 3+ car garage to house his boat and 2 cars.

I have to do the same. We have some storage space in the front of the garage and it's constantly filling up stuff from the wife and kids. I thought the solution was to buy a large Costco shed to store the lawn mower and outdoor tools and other stuff. And still the front of the garage is a constant mess; at least the stuff I need to access on a regular basis is still organized out in the storage shed. I caused a small maritial crisis by buying and utilizing a car cover for my convertible muscle car that takes up my half of the garage because the wife could no longer dump stuff onto its seats. Nothing like wanting to take the convertible out for a joy ride and find the contents of the latest trip to Costco or hobby lobby on the seats.

The house we are looking at right now has a two car garage and then a separate one car garage, forming a courtyard type of idea. The single Is perfect for my workshop and our bikes, and we can park in the two car. The plan is exactly what we wanted that way.

[Uncle Ted]

I have to do the same. We have some storage space in the front of the garage and it's constantly filling up stuff from the wife and kids. I thought the solution was to buy a large Costco shed to store the lawn mower and outdoor tools and other stuff. And still the front of the garage is a constant mess; at least the stuff I need to access on a regular basis is still organized out in the storage shed. I caused a small maritial crisis by buying and utilizing a car cover for my convertible muscle car that takes up my half of the garage because the wife could no longer dump stuff onto its seats. Nothing like wanting to take the convertible out for a joy ride and find the contents of the latest trip to Costco or hobby lobby on the seats.

I keep my muscle car under a car cover as well but outside. It is not worthy of a valuable garage spot. That is for my truck.

[Moliere]

$100 a square-foot seems likr s deal in Texas until you see the property tax.

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$100/sq ft is expensive for Texas and the property taxes seem outrageous until you see the state income taxes

[MartyFunkhouser]

My house would mostly pass DH's dealbreakers, but backyard with a pool, halfcourt bball, grassy area and grilling area - I guess I'll have to be good with grassy and grilling. Apparently I should have become a lawyer.

Maybe you shouldn't have been a lawyer. The only deal breaker that my home would pass is the kitchen being open to the great room. Of course, I'm sure that there are other deficiencies in the kitchen/great room that make it inadequate. Hell, I'm only going to have a 1 car garage.

[Joe Public]

The house we are looking at right now has a two car garage and then a separate one car garage, forming a courtyard type of idea. The single Is perfect for my workshop and our bikes, and we can park in the two car. The plan is exactly what we wanted that way.

Pain cave

[thesaint258]

That 3-car garage is absolutely necessary. I want to buy a fun car, and I've seen some real deals on M3s, M5s, and 911s. Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere to park another car. My wife can have anything else in the house she wants. I just want a 3-car garage.