Hey guys! We went to a few home opens today as we're looking for our first investment property. We got the feel from two from just chatting to people that not having a garage was bit of a make or break in terms of people buying. What are your guys thoughts? How important for home-onwers is a garage even in a decent suburb? Cheers, Fitz
Its mandatory as part of my purchasing criteria..preferably with lock up under main roof or behind gates.
We had more than one prospective tenant pass on what was a million dollar house that we had for rent due to it having under cover parking with remote control gates, but no actual garage door. We've found it much less hassle for lower priced properties. Often we have one car lock up and the other car is parked in the driveway or on the street. But no under cover or lock up is definitely a problem.
Must-have for me, unless you're right on top of a train station or in the middle of the CBD. And even then I'd only consider it after I factor in the cost of finding a car parking space elsewhere - can't just leave my cars on the streets!
Expanding on this, when househunting earlier this year we ignored all houses that didn't have a side-by-side DLUG: - tandem was out, since we wanted to be able to take either car out at any time without having to move the other - carport was out, as one of my cars attracts a lot of attention (I have seen people lean on it to take photos) There may be a mild correlation between wealthy tenants and fussy car requirements, but good parking is absolutely worth it. One of my IPs has a car stacker system and my agent reckons it knocks a bit off both sale price and the weekly rent.
I wouldn't run away if there was no car hole, but depends on the deal and location. If there off street parking avail? If there's room, it's an easy job to put on a car port for <5k and get an extra $10+/wk in rent, plus be more attractive to potential tenants. But as usual deal and location dependent
We have a unit that has an open car space whilst the remaining units all have carports. Our rent is no different than those that do. On saying that, if you have a 3 bedroom house or an IP in a higher crime rate (perceived) then something where a car may be locked is always a good idea.
Hmm, that's really interesting to hear - hadn't thought about before today too much. If it's affordable and am able to install a garage door, will it add value if I'm wanting to have the house revalued in 6-12 months? Cheers, Fitz
All my investment properties in Sydney have car space / garage, but I've found that car space is less important in some suburbs with good transportation, it does not make a big difference in terms of rental return.
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