What's with tiny @^&%$ garages???

WolfeMacleod · 01:44 PM

Still e to move to. Time is drawing very, very short. A week ago, I looked at 95 rentals around the area. Including a warehouse with a small upper area that I could live in... but the other two with me could not.

Found an AWESOME house. Huge, Ginormous. Four living room type areas. Hot tub. I mean... the house went on and on.

Tiny garage. So small and short that I coulnd't even pull my Saturn into it.
So the garage would be too small for me to work in.. there was another workshop type room, but it was also fairly small...but I could make it work with all the other extra storage space in the house.

Here's the CL listing of house. Its expen$ive.

Lake Forest Park Home

and a better listing with more pics here Rental Home at 18944 40Th Pl NE, Lake Forest Park, WA | RentalHouses.com

What is it with houses having tiny garages? I looked at one that claimed to be a three car garage. There were two cars parked SIX INCHES away from each other.

Three cars my a$$!

I looked at another with a "HUGE GARAGE!!" - it was 15x18 barely. And he wanted SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for move-in.

Zeke · 02-26-2011, 02:08 PM

Sure looks like a beautiful home. Too bad you couldn't cover the floor in one of those big rooms and do your shop work in there.

Under the gun as you are, you may have to consider the home for you and your family first and figure out the shop later. I once had a shop that I rented from a guy that didn't need anything but the office part. Separate entry; it was perfect as I needed no office.

lisa_spyder · 02-26-2011, 02:14 PM

Wolfe,

Milt may be onto something. That house has a huge amount of space. Could you use some of the indoor space for work? You'd save a whack on having to heat a garage and the 'tiny' garage would be big enough for the 911, wouldn't it?

WolfeMacleod · 02-26-2011, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa_spyder

Wolfe,

Milt may be onto something. That house has a huge amount of space. Could you use some of the indoor space for work? You'd save a whack on having to heat a garage and the 'tiny' garage would be big enough for the 911, wouldn't it?

Theoretically, yes. I could cover the floors in the two living rooms in the downstairs and use it, then do dirty work in the workshop room, which has a conctret floor. However, access from the lower living rooms to the worksop room isn't easy... no doors conencting them, or the garage itself, directly to the house. Access to the garage and workshop is from the outside only. I took a quick vid of the walkthrough, maybe I'll post it. I lost the first walkthriough vid, and had to do a second quick one.

lisa_spyder · 02-26-2011, 02:49 PM

Do you have a relationship with any rental agents in the area? In the past between purchases, I've always found the right property not through advertisements but by calling an agent and telling them exactly what I am looking for. There's sometimes a bit of a lag between when an agent knows a property will be available for rent as opposed to when it hits the rental list.

If you haven't tried this yet; it's worth a shot.

WolfeMacleod · 02-26-2011, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa_spyder

Do you have a relationship with any rental agents in the area? In the past between purchases, I've always found the right property not through advertisements but by calling an agent and telling them exactly what I am looking for. There's sometimes a bit of a lag between when an agent knows a property will be available for rent as opposed to when it hits the rental list.

If you haven't tried this yet; it's worth a shot.

Well, wer'e not able to buy right now..

But yes, I've been talkign with a couple different agents and have a few on the lookout. One has been sending rentals on a regular basis. Most of them that I've spoke to have completely overlooked our requirements, location, cost limits. I've been getting places as far as 50+ miles out of our needed location.

I did find one place.. huge house, 22 horse aces, giant barn with a finished workshop plus a three car garage on the house... priced right. 50 miles away....

Just Found another that might work and it's in our price range,.
Incredible Lake Forest Park home

If the garage space is halfway reasonable and the outside parking is OK for fours more cars... there migth be enough room to work with. I've already send a message.. wish there was an address so we could do a drive-by. House is huge.

lisa_spyder · 02-26-2011, 03:15 PM

It's hard to find a good agent, particularly for rentals (as the tenant particularly).

Ring some and get the name and email addies of their rental managers. Send them a detail list of your needs and timeframe. If it's anything like here; often the rental staff are kids who really need to learn to listen more.

That house looks nice; but it's huge! Big cost heating etc I would guess.

Hope the garage is insulated or the mezzanine is at least contained with a full floor otherwise it could be a ***** to heat...

I don't know rental prices over there, but it sounds fair?

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

tell them you are planning to BUY in a year or so and want to build a good relationship with an agent...

WolfeMacleod · 02-26-2011, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa_spyder

That house looks nice; but it's huge! Big cost heating etc I would guess.

Hope the garage is insulated or the mezzanine is at least contained with a full floor otherwise it could be a ***** to heat...

I don't know rental prices over there, but it sounds fair?

The price on those two places is pretty good, actually. Around here, prices are insane with most houses that come close to what we need being $2500 and up. I've seen houses that are $4000 or more. Per month. I was one that was $16,000/mo.

Seems that people bought uber expensive houses in the boom, and now want to rent them out to cover mortgages.
I'm at $1700/mo right now. They originally wanted over $2k. The house has issues due to several poor remodels..including the most recent.
Early on we saw a place with the worst kitchen I'd ever seen. Maybe five square feet of counter. A 50 year old stove and Fridge. $2k/mo. very busy street.. Nice workspace though. it was our last resort choice. It's gone now, afer they dropped it to a more reasonable level.

lisa_spyder · 02-26-2011, 05:52 PM

Big or small issues? Can you live with them? BTDT with both big and small issues in a rental...have to say both pissed me off severely after a few weeks or months.

Rents in Melbourne are crazy. Property prices are crazy. In the inner city people are bidding against each other on rentals; never mind the advertised price; highest bidder gets the property

Good luck...sounds like you may have found it and if you can get it cheaper still then maybe the issues won't be so bad.

WolfeMacleod · 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa_spyder

Big or small issues? Can you live with them? BTDT with both big and small issues in a rental...have to say both pissed me off severely after a few weeks or months.

Well, the biggest issue with the place now is that the lease is up at the end of March and the LL has been trying to get up out since October.
But, there have been a lot of issues with it over the last two years. Such as the lower half house electricity going out. Took them a year and a half to fix....which they did at the same time they told us they wanted us to move early. Garage door didn't work for a year. Master toilet broke in half a week after I started moving in. The flat roof over the master bedroom collects a four inch deep lake that doesn't drain....ton of water or so?? Lower sliding door lock broke and couldn't be locked. For over SIX MONTHS I had an unsecured house.
Electrical box itself wasn't grounded. Neither were most of the outlets.
Dining room light wiring failed and was out for almost a year.
Yeah. This house has had a lot of problems.

OHH yeah. I almost forgor to post the walkthrough of the big house.. The center room on the lower floor is the one I'm thinking I could turn intio workspace, since most of the main living area is at the top.

lisa_spyder · 02-26-2011, 06:33 PM

Holy hell that place is enormous...3 of you right? Well you could each have a separate living space in that!

I got a bit lost on the ground floor...that place has so much space you would need heaps of furniture to make it looked lived in.

OK, so between this one and the other one...which do you LIKE best? Oops...you haven't actually seen the other one yet have you...

WolfeMacleod · 02-26-2011, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa_spyder

Holy hell that place is enormous...3 of you right? Well you could each have a separate living space in that!

I got a bit lost on the ground floor...that place has so much space you would need heaps of furniture to make it looked lived in.

OK, so between this one and the other one...which do you LIKE best? Oops...you haven't actually seen the other one yet have you...

Nope, no address posted and no phone number in the CL ad.

I think the other one may be a "nicer" home altogether, as in less of the old-spooky eerie thing that old houses have going on, but that's one thing I really dig about the walkthrough house. It's got a certain old Munster's funkyiness to it and an unusual layout. I really like older houses, despite their shortcomings.

but then again, the other house has an open-beam design all through it which I also really big. Still waiting on a reply...

WolfeMacleod · 02-27-2011, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WolfeMacleod

Nope, no address posted and no phone number in the CL ad

.....but then again, the other house has an open-beam design all through it which I also really big. Still waiting on a reply...

FOUND the house. I realized that the CL ad had a buy option mentioned on on it, so i started looking through Zillow in the area and clicked untill I found it. Called the agent I've been working most with and told him about the listing. He's left messages for the people handling the house.
We did a drive by. the place is big. Did I mention? It's BIG.It's got a dedicated large enough looking workshop area over the garage that would work fantastically.

My guy said the listing on the house was canceled a few months ago, so it's been taken off the sale market.

the one drawback to the house? the very long, VERY STEEP driveway. Steepest I've ever seen, it's built on the side of a hill... part of the house is on stilts.

I'm taking the lady at 3 to look at the first brown house since she hasn't seen inside it yet.

WolfeMacleod · 02-27-2011, 02:41 PM

Turns out, the CL listign for the second house is most likely a scam. The agents don't know why it was listed.

Went to take the lady and kid to look at the brown house.
I can't believe she wants to nix it becasue there's no f&*%Ring soaking tub in the master bed's bathroom...

lisa_spyder · 02-27-2011, 03:22 PM

So Wolfe,

What next? You must feel like time is really ticking now

WolfeMacleod · 02-27-2011, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lisa_spyder

So Wolfe,

What next? You must feel like time is really ticking now

Yeah. I have a month to be moved out. The move alone will take nearly a month.
I'm goign to inquire about a 4,000 square foot warehouse that a friend told me about in Seattle. He was considering moving his amplifier company there. Seattle zoning laws apparently allow for a "caretaker" apartment in any commercial building here, up to 800 square feet for the living space.
The price on the space is not too high... live and work there. Alone if I have to.

EarlyPorsche · 02-27-2011, 06:09 PM

Why dont you just buy what you're looking for so you dont have to rent and keep moving? What you're paying a month is a mortgage. Sell some cars for the down payment.

jhynesrockmtn · 02-27-2011, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Went to take the lady and kid to look at the brown house.
I can't believe she wants to nix it becasue there's no f&*%Ring soaking tub in the master bed's bathroom...

Dude, really? Tell her to *(&^ off. If it works for you and you are paying the rent she should be very thankful to have a roof over her head.

lisa_spyder · 02-27-2011, 07:40 PM

Wolfe,

Have you asked your good lady to do the looking? Does she know how little is out there to suit your needs? Has she spent hours and hours being frustrated by looking at properties that don't suit? Has she done any of the hard yards?

If you haven't done this; you should have. She might have a MUCH clearer understanding of the circumstances and may not be so damned picky.