A straight line direct answer to the question, "Does having a garage increase the value of your house?" would be no. Having a garage doesn't necessarily make your house worth any more money, because a garage isn't technically part of your house. What having a garage does is make potential buyers much more likely to purchase your house because of all of the things that can be done with a garage.

Many house shoppers today have "garage" down as one of the things that they are looking for in a new home. A garage can be a very valuable portion of real estate even if it won't necessarily up the current value of your home.

Who Wants Garages?

The simple answer to this question is, just about everybody. Mechanics want a place to store their tools and work on their vehicles. Car enthusiasts want a safe place to keep their prized possessions safe from the elements. Gardeners need a place for their mower, aerator, seeds and topsoil. Yard sellers need a place to set up all of their wares for the coming sale and a place to do business during bouts of torrid weather.

The uses for a good garage are almost as infinite as the imaginations of the home owners that have them, so a better question would be, "Who doesn't want a garage?"

The Effect on Selling

How having a garage will potentially impact the sale of your home is a much more important question then what kind of dollar amount it may or may not have on your home's value, especially considering the state of the real estate market today.

Potential buyers are looking for any advantage that one home may have over another in this day and age - the three most important things in real estate are no longer location, location and location.

If your home is located in the same neighborhood as another comparable home, with the same number of bedrooms and baths, with both houses in similar conditions and with similar square footages - if your home has a garage and the other home doesn't, your garage will loom huge in the decision of the sale.

Garages don't add square footage to the foot plan of the home in an actual sense, but in a potential buyer's eye, they do. House hunters can see whatever they dream of in terms of your garage. They may want to turn it from a standard carport into a workshop or machine shop, they may have plans to turn it into a home office that has just enough separation from the living quarters to be truly functional, they may see it as an opportunity to create an extra bedroom down the road with some minor renovations or they may want to create their very own personalized sports bar right in their own backyard for entertaining.

Regardless of what it is they envision, having a garage when the other house under consideration doesn't could be the point that finalizes the sale.

If your home doesn't currently have a garage and you're contemplating adding one, but you're wondering whether or not the investment will pay off - consider the statements above. The cost of a garage could be anywhere from two to five thousand dollars or more depending upon the size and though you probably won't be able to add that money onto your asking price when you are ready to sell, the addition of the garage may get your house sold - and that's the most important thing when looking to sell.