Storage or lack thereof

Would you consider a house with no garage and no usable basement?

Have you "created" storage elsewhere in your house or on your property to make up for it?

Or have you taken a cinderblock and sand basement and turned it into a finished basement?

Sorry for all the questions. We saw a great house that could have been a perfect house if it wasn't missing both of those things.

Re: Storage or lack thereof

We have a crawl space instead of a basement.
We use our attic and shed in the yard for storage. It works for us. And I've come to find, less space=less junk.

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We have the garage (thankfully!) but no basement.

We use a spare bedroom for storage upstairs also. The garage is not insulated.

I would love to have a basement.

An unfinished basement has "at least" the potential to be finished later on.

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we live in condo, but have a fairly large outside storage unit (private right outside our fenced in patio) & a shed on our patio. Both are barely filled, so we have adquate storage for now.

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Would you consider a house with no garage and no usable basement?
Our list of "must haves" included either a 1-car garage or a basement...especially if the house didn't have an attic. We saw lots of houses we loved that had neither or just 1 of the two...but in the end, couldn't bring ourselves to sacrifice the lack of space. As luck would have it, we wound up buying a 2-car garage house with a full basement and attic.

Have you "created" storage elsewhere in your house or on your property to make up for it?
There was a house or two that we absolutely loved that we considered putting an offer in on where we thought we would/could build a shed or a garage.

Or have you taken a cinderblock and sand basement and turned it into a finished basement?
N/A for us...but I wouldn't be opposed to finishing a basement...it's only added value to your home.

My only bit of advice...make your list of "must haves" and things you definitely cannot do without and do not sacrifice them. There are a ton of houses out there - do not compromise on what you want/need.

Message edited 7/23/2007 3:48:47 PM.

Re: Storage or lack thereof

Thanks guys.

Everything is aligning just right for this place but the lack of storage is the only con that I'm iffy about.

They were never really a big deal breaker for me. But without them, the house is worth easily 20k less than it's listed for. In my opinion.

We actually do intend on building a large outdoor shed for my gardening, no matter where we end up. And possibly a greenhouse.

That's just a dream right now, but hey... you never know.

Re: Storage or lack thereof

Posted by greenfreak

Thanks guys.

Everything is aligning just right for this place but the lack of storage is the only con that I'm iffy about.

They were never really a big deal breaker for me. But without them, the house is worth easily 20k less than it's listed for. In my opinion.

We actually do intend on building a large outdoor shed for my gardening, no matter where we end up. And possibly a greenhouse.

That's just a dream right now, but hey... you never know.

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Ah yes, I forgot about attic. That is actually listed, although I don't see it in any of the pics. I wonder where it is.

Message edited 7/23/2007 4:21:22 PM.

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I looked at a house that I looooooved. But it had no basement, and no garage, and teeny tiny amount of attick for staorage. Just knowing my and DH nature for keeping crap, we let the house go (SADLY). We did buy another house that did not have a basement, which would have amde it perfect, but loved the house in so many other ways, that we took it. It does have a garage, and lots of attick space with normal stairs to it above the garage....Never enough room for us htough, HA It is forcing us to release crap from our lives, which is a GOOD THING!

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We did see it, but didn't pay attention to that part. I took 150 pictures and don't see anything in the ceilings that might be a door to an attic.

Maybe it's in the ceiling of a closet and that's why we didn't see it?

It's a strange house that's been extended a lot. So that attic could be anywhere.

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We use our basement for storage as the garage doesn't allow. For the outdoor equipment, we purchased a plastic shed for the back yard.

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You know what's funny too... I walked down into the basement, got an eyeful of the cinderblock, the smell of damp, and the sand... And immediately disbelieved that it could ever be turned into a finished basement.

But that's what a lot of the old ones look like, don't they?

I guess I don't have enough vision. That's got to be major bucks though, no? I suppose we could do just one room. I wish I had a flashlight and a mask to walk around down there. But it was scary.

Re: Storage or lack thereof

Posted by greenfreak

You know what's funny too... I walked down into the basement, got an eyeful of the cinderblock, the smell of damp, and the sand... And immediately disbelieved that it could ever be turned into a finished basement.

But that's what a lot of the old ones look like, don't they?

I guess I don't have enough vision. That's got to be major bucks though, no? I suppose we could do just one room. I wish I had a flashlight and a mask to walk around down there. But it was scary.

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We have no basement and 1/2 garage-the other half is a laundry room. I have 4 BD with closets so I use those-we use the laundry room, 1/2 garage fits the lawnmower, bike, tools, etc. We also have a shed.

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I have no garage and a crawlspace for a basement. I agree that the less space for me has meant less *stuff*. I utilize the closet space that I do have pretty well and I kind of find that it makes me stay organized.
(I bought my house obviously realizing the lack of space, but for me, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make for other things...location etc. )

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IMO storage is essential in a house. You can change just about anything about a house except the location and the basic square footage (unless of course you expand the house). Storage space is one of those things that is never in excess unless you are one of those people that live a totally uncluttered life.

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For me, a basement and garage were must haves.

You could use an attic or shed for storage. or you could add on a garage.

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please tell me this house is in eastern suffolk so we can be neighbors Tricia!!!
Storage is a big thing for me, but I'll admit having alot if it has allowed me to become more of a packrat.
In our house we have a full basement, only 1/3 is finished the rest is storage & DH's wood shop, pantry, laundry. We have two attics, one at the top of the house that we don't use & another more accessible one over a part of the first floor. I store 99% of our holiday stuff in there. We have a pretty big shed that is mostly filled with DH's stuff & I have the greenhouse for my small gardening stuff. we do not have a garage & it was a major compromise of this house. DH could really use a garage for tool/supply storage. We may add a detatched garage at some point.
So this house has plenty of staorage, however my townhouse had no basement, a garage that we converted most of into a room & a very large attic. We installed pull down stairs in an area that was easy to acess all the time & I went up into the attic often. Almost as if it were a basement or walkin closet.

As for the house you're looking at having the potential to finish the basement, sometimes they were done with sand floors because of the water table. Was there a sump pump down there? I think it would probably be less expensive to have a very large shed or simple garage built on the property.
Good luck!!!

Message edited 7/24/2007 6:51:42 AM.

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Message edited 7/24/2007 7:34:17 AM.

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We almost bought a house with no basement and no garage. Looking back, I can't imagine not having at least one or the other. You don't realize how quickly you can pack out a house.