Home without a garage

[tonyla]

I`ve been looking around for my next suited home in Edmonton. One of the properties that piqued my interest was a suited bungalo, the only negative was there is no garage. Though there is an uncovered driveway to park your car.

I was wondering how other investors view properties without garages, especially in Edmonton.

 

[JimWhitelaw]

We look at a garage as a source of bonus income for a property and don`t include it in our initial cashflow analysis. So in essence, we view all properties as being without a garage and make our purchase decision based on that. Depending on the lot configuration, access to the garage can sometimes be tricky and it`s not always feasible to rent the garage to someone who isn`t a tenant of the house itself.

That said, our experience is that renting out a garage in Edmonton isn`t hard; there`s lots of demand.

 

[tonyla]

QUOTE (JimWhitelaw @ Jul 17 2009, 10:11 AM) We look at a garage as a source of bonus income for a property and don`t include it in our initial cashflow analysis. So in essence, we view all properties as being without a garage and make our purchase decision based on that. Depending on the lot configuration, access to the garage can sometimes be tricky and it`s not always feasible to rent the garage to someone who isn`t a tenant of the house itself.

That said, our experience is that renting out a garage in Edmonton isn`t hard; there`s lots of demand.
I`m still relatively new so my greenness might show.

I agree that a detached garage is a source of "bonus" income and it doesn`t matter whether it`s rented to the upstairs tenant or to a 3rd party.

My one concern is how many tenants would eliminate a rental property if there was no option of renting a garage. It`s different to say "the garage is an extra x dollars a month" and "there is none". Or is this not a concern at all?

 

[JimWhitelaw]

I don`t have a good answer for how many potential tenants would reject a property with no garage. Similar to the # that would reject one without a dishwasher?

I do know that the vast majority of garages that I`ve viewed, whether tenant or owner occupied, are filled with junk and not cars. That tells me that covered parking isn`t that big a deal for a lot of people - and that the same thing could be accomplished with a $300 shed instead of a $10K garage.

 

[tonyla]

QUOTE (JimWhitelaw @ Jul 17 2009, 10:30 AM) I don`t have a good answer for how many potential tenants would reject a property with no garage. Similar to the # that would reject one without a dishwasher?

I do know that the vast majority of garages that I`ve viewed, whether tenant or owner occupied, are filled with junk and not cars. That tells me that covered parking isn`t that big a deal for a lot of people - and that the same thing could be accomplished with a $300 shed instead of a $10K garage.

I didn`t mean to make it sound like I wanted a hard number. More trying to gauge if a garage is a "nice to have" or a "deal breaker".

Your analogy makes sense though