I think I might have to turn in my GRM membership

We just put in an offer on a house, but instead of the ugly house with a two-car garage and shop area that can hold an RV and two to three cars (commercially zoned, no less) we put in an offer on a nicer house in a nicer location with a small double-ish garage that would require me to sell a couple of vehicles because there is no way we can build an extension to that garage or a separate shop, or even park all of them on the property.

OTOH that house is fifteen minutes from work (as opposed to the 45 minutes I have to travel now) and in the Tahoe Basin, plus SWMBO agreed that I can buy a nicer vehicle to replace the two we'd need to sell.

Mind you, it's a short sale so I'm not holding my breath.

Short sale sounds GRM to me. Good luck

Short sale with a reasonable, but low offer actually .

I'll give you a pass... but just this once.

I thought I was doing the right thing when I bought a new to me house that has a 3 car+ garage. As it turns out, I have not really had a vehicle in it yet since we have lived here (for a year.)

In reply to mguar:

Unfortunately the garage ceiling isn't high enough to "stack" cars without them intruding into the bedroom and deck above the garage.

jrw1621 wrote: I thought I was doing the right thing when I bought a new to me house that has a 3 car+ garage. As it turns out, I have not really had a vehicle in it yet since we have lived here (for a year.)

It's more about having space to work on a vehicle - even the current garage (a large/oversized double garage) is a little to small for that and the one at that house is going to make matters even more complicated.

I have no shortage of places to keep cars or work on cars as long as that place is outside.
I have nearly a 1/8 acre of concrete out front.

The downside is that we have no basement. My garage is largely consumed by an second entire dining room set as well as a bedroom set.
Though I am not tied to an association and the township has loose zoning, it would be highly frowned on if I started keeping derelict cars out front.

chumpcar parked at a team member's house.

In reply to mguar:

LoCost or Caterfield would probably work. Hmm. It's tempting to see if one of my friends in the UK could source an importable Caterfield for me, although I can't remember how removable the roll bar is on these.

I nearly bought a pre-lit Westfield a few years back and am now kicking myself that I bought a '97 Elise instead as I could have brought the Westfield over with me.

Lucky, the house we built has NO garage!!! We shall be constructing a shop though... Or, if everything goes to plan, I'll have a shop elsewhere for my business.

. I the area where this particular house is, constructing a separate shop is pretty much going to be impossible. New construction in that area of the Tahoe Basin is more or less prohibited although there might be a way to extend the current property, but that would be a long uphill slog to get that through.

I currently have a 2 car garage at my home. I set it up as a workshop, and get all the toys and BS out of it (or hung up out of the way). If you can put a shed up for lawnmowers/etc. that will help out big as well.

One option is to park your DD outside all the time. Not really that big of a deal. ...or, find a "storage" garage bay somewhere else and rent it for your race car. I do this. I bring the race car home if I want to really wrench on it, but if it's going to sit for an extended period (or for the winter), I just park it in the storage garage and park my DD inside. Rather than commercial storage, check around with friend's and neighbors who may have an extra garage bay available. I was able to find a garage about 3 blocks from my house through a friend for cheap. It's a win win if you can find somebody who has some extra space and can turn it into some extra cash. My dad used to store one of his cars in the neighbor across the street's house in the neighborhood they live, as she was an older widow with a 3-car garage (and only one car).

While sprawling projects and space for junk sounds great, I find the forced simplicity can have it's advantage in keeping things efficient and fun.

Get a nicer P-car and take up playing with karts or bikes?

I keep unlicensed vehicles in my landlord's commercial lot. No garage. That doesn't keep me down. I've contemplated purchasing a small warehouse, but taxes could be rather hefty. Its better to know people with parking spots and big garages or barns. My Nissan sits in a barn at my aunt's house. I'm pretty sure my grandma would let me build a pole barn on her property as well, but I'm not really looking to do that at this point in time. Looking for a house with a big ole garage in StL City.

oldtin wrote: Get a nicer P-car and take up playing with karts or bikes?

Actually one of the reasons that storage is an issue is that I have four bikes, three of which I can't sell without giving "the man" money[1]. In our current double garage I can get the bikes and two cars in, but in the garage in this particular house, I can only get one car and four bikes in.

Selling the C4 and Miata is an option that we're thinking about and the replacement would have to be able to do double duty as an HPDE and DD car, so I'd probably be looking at an Evo or some sort of Carrera 4.

[1] I could bring them with me without paying import duty when I moved over here, but I have to pay import duty on them when I sell them unless (IIRC) I kept them for quite some time here. Which makes sense so returning residents don't stuff a container full of commercial stuff to sell on when they arrive without paying duty like everybody else.

The lessened garage space just means more car/bike work in the kitchen. Perfectly GRM.

Conquest351 wrote: Lucky, the house we built has NO garage!!! We shall be constructing a shop though... Or, if everything goes to plan, I'll have a shop elsewhere for my business.

While I could see myself buying a house with no garage, I can't ever see myself building one that way.

Well, looks like the search is back on - there were multiple offers on the house and ours stood out, but not in the way the seller wanted...

There are a couple more prospects, but two of them are awfully close to a golf course.

keethrax wrote: The lessened garage space just means more car/bike work in the kitchen. Perfectly GRM.

Yeah, but the kitchen wasn't particularly big either...