This is what you get when a single car guy designs his house
 

I'm not sure what to think. Is this a garage or a house? Living quarters upstairs.

A friend of mine has a garage/workshop/home almost just like the one in the picture. He built it himself, when he was single too. Best part is the woman he married already knew what was his priority, and still married him......:D

I'd have to build a garage to go along with it. :)

Reminds me of the house I just moved out of.

all he needs now is somewhere for parts.

Is the person actually living there, or is it guest quarters for a main house?

It is the main house.

The house is very close to the SC coast, so I suspect the living quarters are all on the second floor to avoid flooding in case of a hurricane. The house is not directly on the beach, but is probably a half mile from a large marshy area that turns into coast line. I'm not sure how high water would get in event the area were hit by a hurricane.

I rented a barn style 2 bay garage with 2 bedroom living quarters up stairs. Downstairs had a bay and a half workshop on one side and a wash bay/paint booth on the other side. Center down stairs was an office and stairway up to the second floor. Off the kitchen was a deck and stairs back down to the driveway. I loved it. It was the beast place of any I've rented or of the two homes I've owned. If I was out in the country... if you can find any "country" living areas here in DE, I'd be building one like it right now.

Best part is it can be heated downstairs and you don't even need to go outside to get in the garage.

Heat is the least of this owner's concern. The house is is SE part of South Carolina.

Per the ad" This has 5 tons ac in garage and 3 tons in the loft. Exterior is all hardy siding . All garages plaster ceilings and finish sheetrock walls. The place is very isulated,, It also has 2 -- 200 amp power boxes with a 400 amp main."

I would say he was planning to work on something and stay cool while doing it. I'd hate to have to pay the bill for 8 tons of air conditioning.

Went to see a guy about doing some machine work on an engine once, and we pull up and it's a very nice newer house, or so I thought. Went in the front door and he had a faux living area set up, that you'd see looking through a window, and you go another door and you're in a machine shop! He said he had to build it that way to appease the local restrictions! From the street, you'd never know what was going on there.

My "dream home"...
 

If only this place was available in the Upstate (Greenville) area. I'd be real interested in it!!!

I am looking for a retirement home with a lot of garage space. I did a pretty wide search, and found it on Craigslist in Myrtle Beach. I looked at a Google Earth map of the area, and I imagine it would be horrible living there. The street it is on dead ends into a marshy area that lasts for about a mile until it meets the Atlantic. My mom grew up in a similar area in NC about a half mile from the Pamlico Sound. They had mosquitos there the size of small birds. If you went outside at night, you arm became black with them. On top of that, the area is very hot and humid. Not my cup of tea, but the house is priced right. It is on the market for $225K.

Theres a place kinda related down the road from me. Only its a large horse barn with the living quarters built onto one end. The living room is a glass wall that looks over the indoor riding ring!

A cheap house in a bad area will always be a cheap house in a bad area. The first 3 rules in real estate is - Location, Location and Location.

What good does a lot of garage area do you if it is knee deep (or deeper) in water every hurricane season?

A friend of mine designed a split-level house , and the one pictured is about what the backside of his would look like.
Conventional single story house appearance from front - all lower level as garage space - but hidden around back.

He never built it though.
Now in a divorce settlement, so probably never will.

Could just build a very small house, and a couple HUGE garages in the Asheboro area.
Then we could just work on Pontiacs until the clocks stop. :old:

The first rule of garages, they are never big enough. I had always thought a development of big garages with finished room over garage (FROG) would be an excellent investment rental property, 1, 2 or 3 garages per bedroom LOL. The 4 story apartment we are in now also has a row of garages similar to this, they rent an apartment above with a garage, and under the apartment are 3 garages, one with the apartment, and 2 for rent separately with reserved parking space.
https://images1.apartments.com/i2/1C...ding-photo.jpg

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That’s a nice setup problem is most places like that have very strict rules about what you can and can’t do. I’m guessing no automotive repair.

When someone else governs (HOA, township, village, etc.) what you can do on your living quarters, it's going to be very non productive as far as working on/storing cars.

I've found over the years that you should be on your own plot of property, as far away from neighbors as possible, and in a district that has little, if any automotive restrictions, in their statutes.

In 1992 I built a home on a 2 acre wooded piece of property, and as soon as I had neighbors, the complaints started, the kicker is, I built my house first. The township I built in was mostly agricultural, so you could have as much farm equipment on your property as you wanted, (tractors, combines, gelaners, discs). One resident actually had a tractor junkyard that completely filled his property, but they only allowed 1 unlicensed automobile. Yeah, I had 2-3 on my property behind my pole barn, so I was fair game. If they were farm equipment I would have been just fine............:eek:

A friend of mine also lived in the same township just ended up buy shipping containers to put all his cars inside of. Why anyone would rather stare at a shipping container, as opposed to a car is beyond me, but it made it legal.

I've done the same thing here where I currently live. I have a 20 foot truck box, with a lean to shed on the side of it, it shelters a car, and a wrecker, currently on the rear of my property. If I don't have the car and the truck sheltered for more than 3 days (72 hours), I'm subject to a fine and costs for each violation. Been there.

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