Ok, I promised myself I'd not buy a house till I retire in 2030. But, renting is just not working for me. Rents here are low, but Im not content and now the owner of this house wants to retire and move back here in June.

Homes are selling here like nuts. If you list your house, within a few days, you will have a bidding war on your hands. The average home is listing for $232,000 and is selling for just over $250,000.
Most homes are on the market less than 48 hours before a contract is in place. If you ask for a home inspection, another buyer will step in and buy with no inspection - it's nuts.

Building is the only way out, in my view, anyway.

I close on my land in April. I'm working on what I want to build. I'm thinking of a concrete slab with large garage and living area above it.
Something like what is pictured below....

 

It lakes a deck out front (gotta have that) but this looks really nice.

 

Nice for now, but wait 10-15 years when your knees go out ant try those stairs many times a day.

 

I’ve always been on the lookout for a great large garage with a decent house attached. My wife thinks I have it backwards.

 

 

My requirements include:

Bedroom of 12'6" by 14" minimum.
Large walk-in closet in bedroom.
Larger than average bathroom.
Walk-in shower.

I am getting a lot of advice on an elevator or "change the design so you won't be in trouble when you are elderly". But again, as I age, I think there will be a time where it will be a good idea to simply sell and move close to my son, who will be in (yuk) Michigan by then. I see myself in a senior apartment complex or community. I've lived in two of those up till now and liked it.

But the advice about aging is causing me to think. I'm 60, I am not in ANY denial about getting older, George!

 

I don't know if you ever met Carville Webb, he had 2 SRT6's and used to autocross with his son.
He built a house right on the Alabama River above Montgomery in 2 story with the lower all open and garage.
( done this way for when the river floods )
At any rate, he had a full fledged elevator that would hold 4 people to reach the upper level.

 

A friend has pointed out that such a design may mean horrible high insurance rates, George.
I am going to call my agent tomorrow before I do anything else. There also may be requirements about ventilation and fire protection, as well as elevated insurance rates, to deal with.

I may be going in a different direction after all. Glad I posted in public like this -I'm getting good 'food for thought".

 

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And if I was building a house, I would make sure the garage has at least one lift in it with 'rollup' doors, so a stackable vehicle storage would be available.


.

 

I've been thinking of one stall having a much taller door than the average residential version, as this makes things more versatile. And lift would be a good idea, but for working on cars, not for storage of cars.
But the last thing Id' agree to is a roll-up door.

 

Why are you aversive to a roll up door? A roll up door is almost a need if you want or need to stack/store a vehicle. I wouldn't be suggesting a roll up door if garage space is deep enough to place the lift outside of the regular door clearance inside the garage. Friend of mine tried to stack one of his 6 vehicles while parking under that stacked stored car (three car attached garage). Figuring out the clearance for the door to slip under the top vehicle eventually didn't work (after install of lift and modification of existing garage door/interior roof supporting structure), and now one of the reasons he wanted the lift is moot (until he gets the roll up garage door he now is shopping for). Hard to work with what you have unless you just build a larger separate garage, then you can have it tall enough to have a standard tall bay tracked door.


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I think I have my floor plan ideas pretty much 'done'. I'll be presenting my concept to the draftsman soon, as soon as our current ice storm crap is over with. Probably sometime next week, as we have forecast of another 1/2 inch of ice tonight.

Im looking at about 1150 square feet of living space above (2 BR/2BTH) with a lot of garage down below - probably to exceed 1100 square feet, parking for 4 or more plus mower, etc.
I hope to either install an elevator or at least provide for a future addition of one in the design - we will see what the draftsman comes up with.

 

Sounds very interesting.

 

Perfect plans for a "car guy". Good Luck with your project.

 

That design sounds like a bungalow on top of a garage, not too nice looking. A guy around the corner had a large house with three garages on the side, nice looking. He decided to modify it to accept ten cars, it did not look to good at all, a year later he died and it took two years to sell the house. You can fake the bottom floor to look like a regular house but anyone thinking of buying it knows it is not real. A house has to look and be saleable or you do not get good money in the end.

 

Dave,

They just sold a one bedroom home with 1085 sq Ft for $179,000 not a mile from me. You can sell anything here. And I don't give a damn about resale, if I croak, my kid has already told me, "Dad, we don't want your money, we have our own...". I'm building what I want. Buying/building what others want didn't work the last time. I bought a 3BR2Bth home on an acre in a nice area for $100,000. Sold it eleven years later for $46,000 when the market fall apart. Again, I'll build what I want.

A preliminary sketch of what I'm working on looks nice to me:

 

Looks good to me, too. Go for it if it's what you want.

 

YES !
Only thing missing is a nice lake in the background.

 

The houses around Toronto are probably five times the price of an equivalent house in your area and downtown even more, $180,000 would be a so so downpayment. My sons house in Toronto is over $1,000,000, probably just over 1,000 sq.ft.
Where do you get the height for a decent lift headspace?

 

The lift ( we say elevator ) that my friend has is hydraulic from the bottom like an old fashion car lift, no headspace required.