house with just one-car garage

[NW-Bound]

Come to think of it, my nephew who's a pharmacist living and working in Manhattan does not have a garage either. Despite making a 6-figure salary, he does not want to pay some outrageous money for a slot in a parking garage, so left his Audi here when he moved there. His salary does not go as far as it would elsewhere, and it's no competition against those of Wall St workers.

What does he have as a hobby? Probably nothing. Just work, work, work. Probably eat a lot of ice cream to make up for it. Last time I saw him, he gained quite a bit of weight.

 

[Nick12]

Some that drive exotic high end vehicles need to have garages. Not only for safety of their cars but to plug in the battery charger into the outlet. These vehicles are an electrical gremlins nightmare if not hooked up to an outlet since a number of these vehicles are not driven on a regular basis.

 

[badatmath]

I know its me but I could never understand how one would leave anything valuable like an automobile outdoors overnight.

My neighbors have every inch of the garage filled with "stuff" so they have to park both cars in the driveway. I often wonder what "stuff" is more valuable than the price of 2 vehicles!

 

[Andre1969]

My neighbors have every inch of the garage filled with "stuff" so they have to park both cars in the driveway. I often wonder what "stuff" is more valuable than the price of 2 vehicles!

The first home I bought was a condo that had a one car garage. The condos were arranged in quads, and in our little parking lot, there were four one-car garages on either side, or 8 total. Of those 8:

3 were used for storage of junk/boxes/furnitue/etc
1 had a small pop-up camping trailer in it, with other junk piled behind it
1 had a motorcycle, on a small motorcycle trailer, and junk.
1 had an untagged Chevy Cavalier being stored in it.
1 (mine) was being used to store an antique car. I'd alternate between a '67 Catalina and a '57 DeSoto Firedome...whichever one wasn't at my place, was garaged at my grandmother's house about 10 miles away.
1 was actually used for its original purpose: to park (not long-term store) a car! Ironically, the one guy who regularly parked his car in the garage wasn't so good at it, and would occasionally scrape the sides of the door opening. I think he bumped his neighbor's Ram once, too.

To be fair though, the garages weren't that big; I'd say about 10x20 feet. Mine was the only one out of the four that was arranged so that I had a door that went into the entry foyer, on the left side of the garage as you faced it. When I parked one of my cars in there, I'd have to put as far as I could to the right, so I could get the door open to get in and out of the car. It was a pretty tight squeeze, with the cars I was trying to get in there.

Oddly, these condos were built around 1972-73, when the big car was still the standard by which all others were judged...and a '70's big car was noticeably bigger than a '67 Catalina or any DeSoto short of the long-wheelbase models. So you'd think they would have been built, with those bigger cars in mind?

One of my previous neighbors had a mid-70's Newport, that easily had a good 9-12 inches over my DeSoto or Catalina. He looked like he was there for the signing of the Ten Commandments as well. How he got that car in and out of that garage, I'll never know!

 

[mystang52]

To be fair though, the garages weren't that big; I'd say about 10x20 feet. Mine was the only one out of the four that was arranged so that I had a door that went into the entry foyer, on the left side of the garage as you faced it. When I parked one of my cars in there, I'd have to put as far as I could to the right, so I could get the door open to get in and out of the car. It was a pretty tight squeeze, with the cars I was trying to get in there.

Oddly, these condos were built around 1972-73, when the big car was still the standard by which all others were judged...and a '70's big car was noticeably bigger than a '67 Catalina or any DeSoto short of the long-wheelbase models. So you'd think they would have been built, with those bigger cars in mind?

One of my previous neighbors had a mid-70's Newport, that easily had a good 9-12 inches over my DeSoto or Catalina. He looked like he was there for the signing of the Ten Commandments as well. How he got that car in and out of that garage, I'll never know!

I took this picture of my house for another reason, but you can get an idea of size of my 1-car garage...and the car I park in it during the winter. My house was originally a 1947 Cape Cod style, so Lord knows how anyone got a 1947 car in that garage. I have strips of carpet attached to the garage wall so I can open my door without worrying about dings.

 

[ychuck46]

Yes

We are retired and it is just the wife and myself. Depending on how much "stuff" and how many toys you have, a one car garage is definitely not enough. We have an oversized three car attached garage and a detached 16x32 ft garage. All are used extensively. First world problems. In fairness, though, we do not have a basement, but rather a crawlspace, here in the South. So all the "stuff" that people put down there in their homes have to go in our garages.

 

[meleana]

There is a house in a 55+ gated community.

It has enough living space.
The one big drawback is that it has only an one-car garage.
And the lot is not wide enough to even expand the driveway to a two-car driveway.
It has been on the market longer than the other single-family houses that have been up for sale.

I noticed that a similar one-car garage home in the same community pre-Covid also sat on the market a long time.

Is a two-car garage a must?

.

When we downsized from a large home to a small cottage, we went from a huge two car garage with a gigantic driveway to a small, one car garage and a very small driveway. We own two SUV’s. We keep one in the garage and the other in the driveway and there is room for one more car in the driveway should someone visit or we need to pull the car out of the garage without moving the other one. But it’s tight.

In terms of storage we have minimal things in there. A 4 shelf stand we got at Walmart to keep some essentials. Two sets of hooks to hang up household tools, and outdoor tools like rakes and shovels. We also have a small chest freezer in there and a large snowblower and ladder.

Everything else we kept from our other home’s garage are in our large basement, like my husbands work bench, Giant safe, tool boxes, outdoor stuff like camping chairs, etc. weed wacker, and leaf blower which we don’t really need here since the HOA does our tiny lawn.

Hubby bought some stand up shelves from Walmart to organize his stuff in the basement.

We were able to make it all work.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have 5 spare rooms upstairs, and am using only one as my electronic hobby room.

I can't use more rooms for hobby, because it's a real hassle to clean things up if you do woodworking indoors, particularly upstairs, you know. Plus the trouble of bringing lumber up, and then down the stairs.

That's why I can park only one car in the 2-car garage.

PS. By the way, we don't have his and her cars. My wife does not care to drive, and does not care to claim one as her own although she does have a favorite when she wants to drive herself somewhere. It's the smallest of the 3.

That spares us the trouble of deciding which car should be in the garage. It's the newest one. Simple. And it's also the one I most like to take out to run an errand.


PPS. Ideally, I wanted a 3-car garage. However, when we bought 35 years ago, the current home has the floor plan we liked the most, with the master suite on the ground floor.

 

[Amethyst]

I feel that way too, but in fairness, many if not most cars spend much of their time outside in a workplace parking lot, usually not a covered one.

My neighbors have every inch of the garage filled with "stuff" so they have to park both cars in the driveway. I often wonder what "stuff" is more valuable than the price of 2 vehicles!

 

[NW-Bound]

I feel that way too, but in fairness, many if not most cars spend much of their time outside in a workplace parking lot, usually not a covered one.

... particularly when one is still working.


I know a guy who got his expensive diesel truck stolen. Not once but twice!

The 1st time, it was stolen off his driveway, at night. The truck did not fit in his 3-car garage.

The 2nd time, after he bought a replacement, his wife borrowed it to drive to work as her car had a problem (he often worked at home). The truck was stolen off the megacorp parking lot.

The current truck has lasted a few years now.

 

[bluelight]

In my previous life I had a house with a one car garage that was used for my car. The PO had built a small shed to the back of the garage which was enough to hold yard tools and a lawnmower. When DH moved in and brought with him woodworking equipment, my car (and his) were delegated to the driveway.

When we were looking to purchase our current home 5 years ago, with now 3 cars, DH wouldn't even consider looking at a house, no matter how nice, that didn't have at least a 2 car garage. I noticed in our area, a distant NYC suburb, that most 3 bedroom homes had 1 car garages and 4 bedroom homes had 2 car garages. Even though it is just DH and me, we ended up in a 4 bedroom house to get the 2 car garage. We actually use all of the rooms.

At this point I can't image only having a one car garage, even though we also have a storage shed and full basement. One car is in the garage which also holds some garden tools, woodworking tools, bicycles, garbage cans and supplies that I don't want in the basement or shed.

 

[maestro]

A garage correlates to your lifestyle and your relationship. If you are single, no problem, single car garage is great. If you are married or with SO, then a single car garage can lead to disharmony if you both drive, and want to shelter your 'other' beloved. Two car garage would be my preference, if just to keep the peace. Cheers.

 

[travelover]

My neighbors have every inch of the garage filled with "stuff" so they have to park both cars in the driveway.....

We rented in a neighborhood for awhile that had mostly 3 car garages. Most of the neighbors not only did not park in their stuff-filled garages, but also had campers and other stuff in the little, short driveways. Most parked in the street.

 

[Paulz]

As others have said, there are two answers. If you only want/need a one car garage then it is a possible home for you. On the other hand, if you care about resale down the road, most people will want a two car or more and you'll have the difficulty selling as you have noticed.

I think for most people, a one car garage is a deal breaker. Either you use it for storing stuff like tools, freezers, etc or you put your one car in and don't have room for anything else. My advice would be to steer clear.

 

[RockLife]

Yep

Seriously? Are you all just slaves to your "stuff"? I went from an attached 2-car garage to a house without a driveway - let alone a garage.

Most garages (1-car, 2-car and 3-car) in this area (Hunterdon County, NJ) aren't actually used for cars.. they just function as storage units for outdoor "stuff".

Trust me... shedding all the "stuff" is an awesome stress reliever. Try it.

Experiences > Stuff

This is true, every bit of it.

 

[Amethyst]

Experiences + Stuff >> Experiences OR stuff.

 

[newlyold]

It's not a "must"--it's convenient

Imagine buying that place. You might get it for a decent price, since it's been on the market longer than other places.

But when it's time to sell it, you'll be in the same situation as the current seller--more folks want more storage space, and they're buying other properties. You could be stuck with it for longer than you're comfortable.

But that's only a future "maybe" scenario. "You could be" situations don't guarantee "you WILL be" in those shoes.

Buy what fits you and your needs today, and what get your own life set and happy. Let tomorrow take care of itself. Maybe you'll sell it to some Millennial who has few belongings and only wants a safe place for their bicycle.

As for me, I own two cars & a boat, a utility trailer, and a camper. And I'd prefer to store them all inside, safely out of sight. I'd have to rent additional space if I bought a place with only a single-car garage, so I'd pass over this one and keep looking. If you owned it and wanted to sell it quickly, people with my needs wouldn't be potential customers.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

When we lived in SoCal, we had no garage and that was just fine.
Here in the Midwest in a nice-but-not-extravagant neighborhood, the realtors tell me that houses are difficult to sell unless they have a three car garage. We have three stalls, had only two cars for many years but always appreciated the extra space for lawn mower, yard tools, etc.

 

[NW-Bound]

When we bought our home 35 years ago, some floor plans had a 2-car garage, some a 3-car garage.

Nowadays, any newly built home with 4 bedrooms will come with a 3-car garage. Most townhomes come with a 2-car garage.

 

[Ronstar]

I think for most people, a one car garage is a deal breaker.

We got lucky selling our 2bedroom 1300 sf Scottsdale snowbird townhome with a 1 car garage. A single middle aged woman with no kids bought it from us for her full time residence.

 

[NW-Bound]

We got lucky selling our 2bedroom 1300 sf Scottsdale snowbird townhome with a 1 car garage. A single middle aged woman with no kids bought it from us for her full time residence.

A home location may make up for other shortfalls. My daughter's first home is a townhome of 1,000-sq.ft. with a single car port, next to a 4-star resort. After getting married, she had no problem selling it.

PS. The previous owner was a single woman. The buyer after my daughter was a single older man. I suspect that many other owners are snowbirds.

 

[HenryD]

Minimum 3 car in our newly built outer-suburban neighborhood. One of our stalls is double depth so we can fit 3 cars and junk. Many neighbors upgraded to a 4 car when they built, so those with our layout could store 5.

All have full basement. Midwesterners need their winter storage and tornado shelter. Even with all that, several in the 'hood have huge fifth wheel campers and the super duty pickups to pull them, in the driveway/street all summer.

 

[brett]

We would not buy a home that only had a one car garage. It would impede re-sale.

 

[badatmath]

We would not buy a home that only had a one car garage. It would impede re-sale.

I would say that depends where you live. The city I am from originally (small, Midwestern) has a lot of older homes and very little new construction so having a 1 car garage is far more common than not. It is not exactly a garden spot so not like anyone is going to move there on purpose.