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Old 07-21-2014, 08:35 AM   #1
Schraderbrau
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Default 3 car corner garage VS walk out onto green space

I know I posted on here a while back about being mortgage free, now I am posting about building, go figure......

I was looking at lots this weekend and talking to a builder about options. There are 2 lots that interested me, one was a corner lot that would allow me to build a standard with a 3 car garage. The other was a lot that backed onto a green space that would allow for a walk out basement. The type of home would be the same with the same finishings but the walk out is about an extra 40K in price.

My question is; does a walk out onto a green space hold enough resale value in Calgary to make it work the extra capital up front VS the three car garage corner lot?

The area is Auburn Bay in the south.
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Old 07-21-2014, 09:21 AM   #2
darklord700
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If you have to shuffle the corner lot and if the corner lot will have more cars travelling on, those are cons to me. 40K for a walkout is a little step but I haven't looked at lots for over ten years now so my pricing info is obsolete. Obviously, you have to develop your basement to take advantage of the walkout.

Straightup I will take the walkout over the 3 car garage. The key question I can't answer is if the advantages of the walkout are worth 40K over the 3 car garage.
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Old 07-21-2014, 10:11 AM   #3
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Paying more for a walk-out is a joke. The only reason they even build walk-outs is out of necessity due to the slope of the land.

I built a new house in 2002 and it was a walk-out. Lived there for about six years and loved everything about the house, except for the fact that it was a walk-out.

Trust me on this, you will use your backyard way less if you live in a walk-out. A standard house usually has a very accessible backyard. With a walk-out, you will be carrying your shoes through the basement (and asking your friends to do the same) to access the yard. If your barbecue is on the deck, that's one story up. It really separates you from the action in the yard if you are up there manning the grill.

You can build a giant staircase down from your deck, but that is expensive, takes up space, and again is a slight deterrent to just walking out and enjoying your yard. Plus if you're entertaining/eating/drinking in the backyard, the kitchen is a long way away.

Another thing if you like a neat yard/house, is you likely will be looking down into other peoples' yards. I have found that most people are slobs and don't keep a neat yard and especially don't keep it neat between the side of their house and their fence. You are going to be looking down into that mess forever. It drove me nuts. Plus since this is a new build, you'll be shocked at many lazy POS's don't sod right away so you'll be looking at weeds and dirt for years potentially.

When builders sell walk-outs as a bonus, they must laugh themselves to sleep every night. It has to be the highest margin "feature" they sell. If I could start a business that only sold walk-out lots I'd be the richest man in Calgary.
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Old 07-21-2014, 10:31 AM   #4
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Trust me on this, you will use your backyard way less if you live in a walk-out. A standard house usually has a very accessible backyard. With a walk-out, you will be carrying your shoes through the basement (and asking your friends to do the same) to access the yard.
This is true. The value of a walkout is that a developed basement is much more useable in a walkout. In my last non-walkout house, I rarely stayed in my developed basement much because it felt very cooped up.

I agreed very much that you'll use your yard less in a walkout if that's important to you. But the huge upside of a walkout is, well, it doesn't tend to leak as much and even if it does leak, it's easier to fix as the foundation is above grade.

Also, say you spend $60K to develop a walkout plus the added $40K more for the lot. For $100K you get a whole floor of squad footage and in this market, that's a very good deal. A hillside walkout bungalow is huge improvment over a non-walkout bungalow.
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Old 07-21-2014, 10:38 AM   #5
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This is true. The value of a walkout is that a developed basement is much more useable in a walkout. In my last non-walkout house, I rarely stayed in my developed basement much because it felt very cooped up.

I agreed very much that you'll use your yard less in a walkout if that's important to you. But the huge upside of a walkout is, well, it doesn't tend to leak as much and even if it does leak, it's easier to fix as the foundation is above grade.

Also, say you spend $60K to develop a walkout plus the added $40K more for the lot. For $100K you get a whole floor of squad footage and in this market, that's a very good deal. A hillside walkout bungalow is huge improvment over a non-walkout bungalow.
I don't think you get any more usable space in the basement in a walk-out versus a non-walk-out. If he likes natural light (which would combat the "cooped up feeling" if you get that), he could probably pay a tiny bit extra on a new-build for over-sized windows.

I use my basement for my home theater and I think a lot of people do. It's nice to have a little more control over the light coming in with a regular basement versus the wall of windows you typically see in a walk-out.

My experience is you'll very rarely be exiting your house through the basement. You jackets aren't here, your shoes aren't there, etc.

But I suppose you're right that the market likes walk-outs and in terms of an investment, you won't be wasting money. It's not like everybody will one day have an epiphany and view walk-outs the same way I do. The fact that my house was a walk-out was in the first sentence on the feature sheet after all, so I know people look at them as a positive.
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Old 07-21-2014, 11:02 AM   #6
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Both houses include a developed basement so both basements would be liveable space. The one big advantage to me with the walkout is the green space it backs onto for resale. The lot is an extra 8600, which doesnt seem like that much and would be worth its weight in resale. With the greespace you arent looking at slobs but rather the park. It's a tough call for me. I would build the stairs down from the beck to be able to get to the yard but those stairs would be steep and not good in the winter.

The walkout itself is $17,600 where the 40K comes from is additional $8,600 for the lot, 6,000 for the raised deck and columns, 2,000 for the trim upgrades, and 5000 added on for a possible control allowance (if required). This was just a quick quote but all said and done it was about 40K more.
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Old 07-21-2014, 11:04 AM   #7
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Looking out over a green space (assuming it will be well maintained) is a huge plus compared to the set-up I had where I looked into other backyards.
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Old 07-21-2014, 11:40 AM   #8
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No backyard neighbour and looking out into green space is huge bonus when it comes to resell. Some people like me don't like corner lots because of the extra snow shuffling you generally have to do.
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Old 07-21-2014, 02:45 PM   #9
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I would definitely find out whether the corner house will have sidewalk or not. I shovelled a corner lot for a neighbour once when I was about 12, and that was the hardest money I've ever earned in my life.
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Old 07-21-2014, 03:18 PM   #10
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If you're worried about the sidewalk, that problem can be solved with a $300 snowblower so I wouldn't get too concerned.
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Old 07-22-2014, 01:06 PM   #11
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Corner lots also quickly become the community parking lot - something I personally despise.

Take the green space and increase the size of the garage as much as you can on that lot.
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Old 07-22-2014, 01:08 PM   #12
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I would take the 3 car garage lot, and make sure the garage is tall enough for a lift incase you ever wanted to double your car capacity. But that's just me.
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Old 07-22-2014, 01:42 PM   #13
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3 car garage is nice but many of today's double car garages can't actually fit just two cars.
Maybe two civics will be fine but anything larger than a CRV, you can't park two in today's double car garage.
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Old 07-23-2014, 09:16 AM   #14
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If you have to shuffle the corner lot and if the corner lot will have more cars travelling on, those are cons to me.
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Old 07-23-2014, 09:41 AM   #15
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All good points. I am not to worried about the sidewalk. I have kids (free slave labor) and I could get a snow blower. They have to get back to us for the 3rd garage as there is going to be an added cost to add it to the build. If the garage is say an extra 10K then the gap between the walkout and garge starts to shrink making the walk out more attractive in my opinion.
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Old 07-23-2014, 11:11 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by Sliver View Post

Trust me on this, you will use your backyard way less if you live in a walk-out. A standard house usually has a very accessible backyard. With a walk-out, you will be carrying your shoes through the basement (and asking your friends to do the same) to access the yard. If your barbecue is on the deck, that's one story up. It really separates you from the action in the yard if you are up there manning the grill.

You can build a giant staircase down from your deck, but that is expensive, takes up space, and again is a slight deterrent to just walking out and enjoying your yard. Plus if you're entertaining/eating/drinking in the backyard, the kitchen is a long way away.
Very good advice here. We lived in a walk out that we loved before kids, mainly because of the deck that was up high and great for hosting backyard BBQs.

Once we had kids, we hated that we couldn't see them in the backyard from the house. We ended up moving 2 blocks away to a house that had backyard on the main level and a developed basement (perfect play room / office / home theatre space). The wife loves being able to watch the kids play in the back yard while in the kitchen.

For us, the walkout actually had a bigger garage which I sacrificed in the move, and it is one thing I miss. It was also a corner lot which I miss (despite the cursed shoveling) because of the parking space that was available when we had guests.

If it were me, I would take the 3 car garage and then make sure you get the basement finished nicely.
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Old 07-23-2014, 02:11 PM   #17
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We have a couple of kids now and the bad access to the yard is a concern. We talked about building stairs but I fear steep icy stairs in the winter time. The one thing that I would like about the walk out is we are a hot tub family and it would make like good setting the hot tub up right outside the walk out door. Tough desicion.
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Old 07-23-2014, 03:08 PM   #18
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For the longest time I loved walkout lots and walkout bungalows but I don't think I could purchase one now. Access from the deck to the yard would be the biggest issue for me. I would take a bigger garage over a walkout.
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Old 07-23-2014, 04:20 PM   #19
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The one thing that I would like about the walk out is we are a hot tub family and it would make like good setting the hot tub up right outside the walk out door. Tough desicion.
I find that setup kind of sucks. It means lugging all your stuff downstairs, then coming in wet over a room that is usually carpeted. Got to take a leak after a few beers? over the carpet you go.

I prefer houses where a main floor back door leads to a deck or patio with a hot tub, and there is a bathroom near the back door.

For BBQing too, if you have the 2nd story deck, you are probably BBQing alone while kids are playing in the yard below. I like everything more on one level so you don't feel split up outside.
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Old 07-25-2014, 12:10 PM   #20
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I definitely like the triple car garage. We only have two vehicles, but it leaves you a ton of room for bikes, kayaks, golf clubs, tools, lawnmower, wheelbarrow and such in the third bay.

That said, we walked through the estate showhomes in Auburn Bay that back onto the lake. They are all walkouts and some of them did a really great job with the walkouts. They had huge areas that were half inside/half outside so that you could use the bathroom and shower and leave your stuff without coming into the main part of the house. If you are spending two million on the lake houses I think the walkout is worth it.
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