A single house without a garage

[Anonymous]

https://www.redfin.com/VA/Falls-Church/302-Walnut-St-22046/home/12033684

This Falls Church City house was sold $262k over listing price. It doesn't have a garage. I like to buy a house in the Town of Vienna which doesn't have a garage either. I am wondering if it will impact the resale value. Any opinion?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't buy a home without a garage.

[Anonymous]

I don’t care about a garage. In fact, I think it’s a waste of space.

[Anonymous]

Yes OP it will. There will be less of a buyer pool when you go to sell.

And if the house does not have a garage, parking is key. There must be easy parking right in front or that also will cut potential buyers.

[Anonymous]

It will impact price now and in the future, of course. If you’re willing to buy it, someone else will too for the right price.

[Anonymous]

I lived in a house with no garage for 20 years, but we had plenty of driveway and street parking. If that’s not the case it could be a negative.

[Anonymous]

A lot of houses inside the Beltway do not have garages, and many of the ones that do are used for storage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t care about a garage. In fact, I think it’s a waste of space.

I think it's great to have a garage, not necessarily to store a car, but to have extra storage space for some of the stuff you don't use often. We use our garage (single car garage) in that manner where we store quite a bit of stuff there, while our car is actually stored in the driveway.

[Anonymous]

We built a custom home without a garage. We had never parked in our garage in our last house, it was only for storage. We got a shed instead. Many of the houses on our street - new builds and old - don't have garages either.

[Anonymous]

Folks really have a FOMO these days with the economy not doing so well. Hope they plan on retiring in this home. 1.5 for that, Ewl.

[Anonymous]

I will say it might depend in the neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

When we were searching for a home our search was definitely dampened by the fact that so many homes in a lot the areas we loved either only had a 1 car garage or no garage at all.

Convenience of a garage aside, considering how often people complain about their cars getting broken into in the DMV area... for us a home without a 2 car garage was totally unacceptable. While I'm sure that's not an issue in every neighborhood, you never know how time might change things.

So I could definitely see a home without a garage not appealing to some buyers thus impacting the value of a home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks really have a FOMO these days with the economy not doing so well. Hope they plan on retiring in this home. 1.5 for that, Ewl.

I cannot get over how much people are paying in monthly mortgage for these homes. This house could easily have a mortgage of almost $10,000 a month.

I know it’s the reality of this area, but it’s such a stark difference from what people who bought just a few years ago pay in monthly mortgage for much more house.

[Anonymous]

The FCC house is an extremely walkable area. Residents likely have/need a car but might not use it daily. I lived nearby there with no car, before I had kids.
I now live in Vienna and I don't think it's as walkable, although there are parts where you could drive rarely if you work nearby or WFH.

Not having a garage will affect resale in that fewer buyers will want your house, but that should be built into the price since fewer buyers want it now, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When we were searching for a home our search was definitely dampened by the fact that so many homes in a lot the areas we loved either only had a 1 car garage or no garage at all.

Convenience of a garage aside, considering how often people complain about their cars getting broken into in the DMV area... for us a home without a 2 car garage was totally unacceptable. While I'm sure that's not an issue in every neighborhood, you never know how time might change things.

So I could definitely see a home without a garage not appealing to some buyers thus impacting the value of a home.

I would have loved a garage but we were looking only in a particular area that is highly desirable. We missed out on two homes (were outbid even with escalations) with garages so we settled for a home that has parking and an area for guest cars but no garage. It is a bit of a bummer but we have a nice shed. Our lot is also a lot bigger and nicer than the homes with the garages. My husband wants to build a garage in the future potentially.

I do think some buyers may not buy because of lack of garage but in this market you can’t get everything you want. We luckily purchased with low rates and if we waited for a garage we might have been priced out of our area. So you need to think of that also. I much rather have a better area than a home with a one or two car garage in the suburbs but that is just me! For me location is more important.