Why garage owners are converting their spaces to impress prospective buyers



Owning a garage was once a symbol of wealth and space. The garage was an embodiment of 1980s economic growth and the rise of the motor car.  Recent findings however suggest that if you are looking to sell your house, then there could be temptation to overlook making your garage up to standard for the sake of ease. This could be a big mistake however as people looking to buy are becoming more interested in top quality garages than ever before. You could reduce a lengthy process time as the better the quality of your garage the more likely you will get a price agreed sooner as potential buyers will be more interested and want to conclude a deal more quickly. If you are in the position of agreeing a price, then you may be interested to begin the legal process as soon as you can. The legal side includes a conveyancing process which changes the ownership of a given property. The buyer in the transaction gets a report which brings up any structural issues. You can get the legal side of it completed wherever in the UK you live. If you live in Kent for example you could search on google homebuyers report  Kent where they’ll be a choice of companies such as https://www.samconveyancing.co.uk/Homebuyers-Survey/Home-Buyers-Survey-Kent.

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The story of the garage

The car garage has been around since the dawn of the motor car. In those early days, they were needed to protect the car from corrosion and rust. However, cars are now built to far better standards and can be left outside in all weather without much damage. The booming housebuilding in the 1980s saw single or double garages added to new builds as a demonstrable sign of wealth and status.

Change of purpose

In the last 20 years, however, we have seen a dramatic shift in the way that people use garages. Only 22 per cent of garage owners now park their cars in the garage, and nearly 4 million homeowners have converted the garage for another use. House prices have done little but rise astronomically during this time, and although families haven’t grown, our expectations of the home have. Families now expect to have more than one recreational room plus a playroom, a second bathroom and even a home office.

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Workshop space

The main reason for converting a garage is to create a workshop, which accounts for 26 per cent of conversions. Does this show a rise in DIY or a demise of the “men’s shed” as they seek warmer climes in a converted garage? Either way, converting a garage into a workshop is a fairly simple task because it doesn’t require new flooring.
Over the next decade, we can expect more homeowners to do the same as the need for a garage continues to seem less relevant over time and the demand for more living space increases.