Garage space

[Stephen Mueller]

Appraisers!
Is there a minimum size for a garage space? 12 × 20 12 × 24 etc
TIA

 

[andrew81]

drive around the neighborhood and survey what is typical.

what size of garage is most common? do owners have small cars or large trucks? do they park in the garage or use it for storage?

 

[Artemis Fowl]

I tend to use utility as a measure. Does the structure have garage storage utility? Can I park a car in it and still have room to open a door and get out? If yes, I have garage utility. If every other house on the street uses a similar structure for their lawn tools...I may not call it a garage. It depends. If you are asking for some kind of national standard...I am unaware of any.

That said...12ft width appears to be minimum for anything other than a tiny electric smart-type car. I have some 11ft garages in my area tho...again...it depends.

 

[Mr Rex]

You could probably call a local Residential Architectural firm and get a quick answer.

 

[CANative]

Lot's of houses, especially older ones, with 11 x 20 or so garages.

 

[glenn walker]

Age and market area specific and what the markets reaction is. Typically in my market the older the home the smaller the garages. Homes between 1880 to 1920 many people were still on horses and if they had one model-A or T it was parked outside, Those were often only 8-9 feet wide and 15 to 18 feet deep. Move up to after 1945 WW-2 and a typical Levitt style stick built bungalows had either a 11' to 12' wide by 18' to 20 ' deep garage. The typical 2 car garage up through the late sixties was 18' wide and 20' deep. Move into the seventies and most buyers wanted two car garages that were typically a minimum of 20' X 20 to 22 deep. Today the three car is 21' X 30" as very common .

The truth is with today's larger extended cabin long bed pick up trucks, many won't fit into any garage, unless its a custom built one. So you go with the flow, in old Los Angeles a 11' X 20' one car garage is typical. Very few people ever use them for garages and never did. Bottom line is as long as a garage is at least 10' wide and 18' to 20' deep a person can get a car like a Toyota Corolla in it. Also today many 20" X 21' two car garages will not really hold two cars. I tend to think of it like UAD on bathrooms . We call a 3/4 bath a full bath and garages are similar I will call a 18' X 20' a two car garage but it really won't hold two cars, unless they are very small ones.

 

[J Grant]

Appraisers!
Is there a minimum size for a garage space? 12 × 20 12 × 24 etc
TIA

Logic would say a min functional garage for most vehicles and that a garage door manufacturer standard door can be installed.

 

[Denita Neuenhaus]

Logic would say a min functional garage for most vehicles and that a garage door manufacturer standard door can be installed.

Agree with you J Grant, but there are some exceptions. I've lost a couple of sales over the years due to the size of the garage and the garage had a standard 16 ft two car garage door and maybe a 18'8" x 19' typical suburban garage here built by a production builder. Usually it's a big truck that will fit in the door but not leave enough room to open the truck door or the bed is too long. This isn't a problem until you get an HOA community where the rules and regulations require the trucks to be parked inside the garage and not on the driveway of the property. So I would say that those properties have slightly less value - since the buyer is forced to either sell the truck or not buy in the community. When it does happen, the buyer buys in another community rather than sell their truck! JME

 

[J Grant]

Agree with you J Grant, but there are some exceptions. I've lost a couple of sales over the years due to the size of the garage and the garage had a standard 16 ft two car garage door and maybe a 18'8" x 19' typical suburban garage here built by a production builder. Usually it's a big truck that will fit in the door but not leave enough room to open the truck door or the bed is too long. This isn't a problem until you get an HOA community where the rules and regulations require the trucks to be parked inside the garage and not on the driveway of the property. So I would say that those properties have slightly less value - since the buyer is forced to either sell the truck or not buy in the community. When it does happen, the buyer buys in another community rather than sell their truck! JME

agree, that would is part of agent reality and would be part of an appraisal analysis as well !
Buyers with certain vehicles will not be allowed to keep them in HOA communities and thus must either choose not to live in that community or sell /store offsite the vehicle. An oversize vehicles will not fit in standard garage even if allowed by community or area.

But if the question was what is minimum acceptable or functional garage space, would not be too hard to define and the reality is it would not accommodate every vehicle. Which is why we often see people who own big campers or trucks living in non HOA or further from town semi rural areas where they have room to store them or even building or buying a house with a large detached bldg for them.

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Yet another reason to never ever buy in an HOA.

We have a 2 car garage. No car has gone through the door in 9+ years.
It is for motorcycles, workshop, laundry, storage, storage, storage.