Swimming Pools and Garage Shops

Just a curious question.

Homes with swimming pools will either attract or not attract potential buyers. You either want one, or you don't.

I'm curious if shop oriented garages pose the same issue. I talked with Brent and he said they could just rip out all of the shelves he has built (that would be a shame).

Personally, I'd like pre-made storage, but some folks may actually want to park their fancy cars in a garage and couldn't do so in a 2-car garage that has been reduced to a 1-car garage due to all the fancy shelves.

Not that I ever plan to move...but just was wondering if anyone has run into that as an issue when selling or buying a house? :)
 
I can only speak for myself, but when we bought our current house, all the built-in cabinets and drawers in the garage were a selling point to me, and that was before I'd really entertained the idea of setting up a woodshop. I already had a fair amount of homeowner and yard tools, and the built-in storage was a plus.

At the house I sold before moving to this one, I had built 3' deep shelves along one side wall of a one-car garage, essentially making it useless for parking an actual car. The couple that bought it from me loved the shelves, and they became storage in her husband's new bluegrass band rehearsal studio.

I'm kind of in Brent's camp, though. If I saw a garage with shelves or cabinets that I didn't want, I wouldn't let that be a stopping point in purchasing the place. That kind of stuff can be removed in a weekend or less. A swimming pool...not so much. :D
 
50/50.

When I sold my Santa Ana house in 1994, the buyer wanted all the shelving and cabinetry removed, as a condition of sale.

When I sold the Tustin house in 2004, the buyer was ecstatic about all the "wonderful storage" that was available in the garage.

It's just gonna depend on the buyer.
 
above ground pools, I dont see a reason they cant be brought down pretty quick by a seller if the new owner doesnt want to maintain it.
inground pool, different story around here, taxes, maintainence, safety, might be an issue for someone who cant afford it or will not maintain it.
Garage shelves? This is something that can be ripped out in a couple of hours so again, I dont see a real problem.


A friend of mine purchased a house with a two car garage, and the garage was stuffed along the walls with old kitchen cabinets and old furniture as storage.
He requested the garage be empty like the house when he took ownership.
It didnt stop either side.
The home my son purchased over a year ago also had a mishmosh of old plywood shelving put up, no metal standards, just homemade 2x4 brackets and plywood, all over the garage, and as they get in the way of us hanging new shelving, we rip it down.
 
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As a Real Estate Appraiser I can give some input on my experience.

The pool is a negative for most buyers, but just as you said some would love the pool. Others that never go outside see it as a big expense and a lot of upkeep.
EDIT I meant to also say that in a few areas or neighborhoods pools are expected or at least the norm. But this is not typically the exception to the rule. Location, location, location applies.

As for the garage that is probably going to be same way. Around here most people use garage as storage for 'stuff' and not for their cars. The guys would tend to love the shop and wife would want the car in there.

Up north with snow I would imagine a garage is a bigger deal than other areas. I would think out west with all the sun and heat a garage would be a bigger deal to protect the car.

But the bottom is each buyer is different and one will love it and one will hate it. The real question is what do the majority prefer? Something like that can have no effect on the value of the house, but it can really limit the number of buyers and make the house harder to sell.
 
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It's all "YMMV" and "IMHO"....

13 years ago when we bought our house, we had one 18 month old child, and a pool was a negative.

Now, if we were shopping, with 4 active kids at home, a pool would be a positive.

Then there is basements... Everyone is so proud of their finished basements. Realtors were showing them off when taking us around. Personally, I want an UNfinished basement. Since the car goes in the garage, the shop goes in the basement...

Let alone all the BADLY finished basements we saw when shopping for our first house back in '94. The neighbourhood was mostly 50 yr old houses with basements finished in the 70s, the days of panelling and so on. Back then I saw tons of work, as most of those basements were due to be ripped out and RE-done.

So I think it comes back around to IMHO and YMMV. Someone likes X and someone else likes Y. The trick, when selling, is to find the right buyer! :dunno:
 
I remember the first time my son saw his home that he purchased.
The realtor made it a point to mention that the bathroom tiles were all purchased from Italy, and that the former owner had them made special for her and delivered to U.S.

I told the realtor, oh, thats just great. So some 70 y/o woman purchases tiles she likes 20 years ago, and now you have the nerve to mention that like its a selling point?
I told her to deduct the price of the tiles, have them all ripped out and give them to her family, cause they were just too freekin ugly for words.
I had to ask the realtor twice, are you kidding me?
Someone should shoot the tile maker, yes, they are that ugly.

Beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

One mans trash, is another mans treasure.

Ok, Ill stop now.ok, maybe I wont.\

My wife watches those reality shows where people go shopping for new homes or vacation homes. I sit and crackup when some person is looking at a 1.8 million dollar home, and says, yeah, but that wall color, I dont know.
 
Wow you guys were of no help to Brent. Here i thought Sharon was opening a door for Brent to build a nice big shop that way the garage would revert to normal.

Now sorry for you Brent the shed seems like all you getting. ;)


Sharon i am hoping that the day i come to sell up the added storage i have included in my garage and around my home adds some appeal to the buyer.

When i built my shop i trully never gave the idea of the shop adding value to the property a thought.

BUt with so many working from home today and the quality manner in which i finished my shop well thats a good 400 sqft office with heating and lots of natural light and telephone and interenet already wired in.

I would think it would be many things to many people.

There is still space in my yard for a in ground pool and my shop could be a great entertainment place with a modifaction to where the door is.

Time will tell how it is recieved. ;) When the time comes to move on.;)
 
Well, I personally would want (and have) a garage that has lots of storage places (even though none of my stuff gets to go out there :dunno::huh:)

Out west, pretty much no one has a basement, which is where I would think most stuff would get stored. So instead most folks park in the driveway and on the street so their garages can be the basement equivalent.

We had a three-car garage in the bay area and the only car that ever got to use it was the '46 Chevy :rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
I'm of the opinion that I bought the home and am going to fix it up the way that I want and will get the most enjoyment from. I could care less what the next person that may buy it might like or not like.
 
I'm of the opinion that I bought the home and am going to fix it up the way that I want and will get the most enjoyment from. I could care less what the next person that may buy it might like or not like.

I agree. I'm sure when we get around to selling the CA house, the realtor will say we need to replace the blinds, redo the bathroom, or some other stuff like that. My answer will be "NO". I'm not going to put money into something that someone is just going to rip out 3 months later.

We did upgrade the kitchen, but since I had free labor (thanks Brent), it will more than pay for itself (plus the crap they put into houses these days was making me feel embarrassed about it).
 
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