What about those houses with RV Garages

In AZ, lots of builders offer RV garages on homes being built; just not the standard run of the mill planned development tract builders which the vast majority of newcomers gravitate towards. They want those planned communities with gold courses, parks, manicured landscaping and clubhouses. Builders in those communities have design standards set by the developer and RV garages are not usually permitted. Of course, that developer also owns Mega RV Storage right down the road.

Step right outside those planned developments and RV garages are allowed IF any of the previous owners had one built. Most don't, so it's not the builder who own't build them, it's the buyers who don't want them.

I have a new home with an RV garage and love it. We can store the moho and our water and dirt toys in it.

I think you'll find homes with RV garages offered in areas with retirees and farther-out suburbs where land is cheaper than suburbs closer to metropolitan areas.

We visited a few new-homes communities in the Phoenix area last month and at least 4 developers offered homes with RV garages.

We’re just finishing a barn with an 11’ door and 12 foot ceiling. Plenty of room for our class B plus a shop, loft storage and a root cellar. It’ll be nice having the coach out of the weather.

Dave

JAC1982 wrote:
. . . I was a bit dumbfounded at the builders who spent the money to build an oversized garage, but not make it tall enough for a 5th wheel. We ran into that a few times...homes with an 11 or 12' door instead of 14. I guess they had boats or travel trailers in mind instead.

Agree. May be for the pickups around here. We have a standard F350 quad cab, long bed dually and it won't fit in our standard garage height door, so it's outside. Plus I look online at the specs of some of these homes with RV garages and often they are 34' deep. Heck, our FW is close to 36' long, plus having extra length means we could park our popup in there too. If you have a short Class A, or C, or even trailer of whatever type, it may fit.

IdaD wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
Here in Idaho, the Boise area, there are a lot of subdivisions with these types of homes. Good friends had a new home built in an upper end subdivision, with a three car garage and 40' RV garage and they aren't the only ones. RV's are popular here. They moved from Palm Springs first to Carson City, NV hoping to build like that and couldn't at an affordable price so they came back home to Idaho and built within their price range.

Yeah I was just going to comment to the contractor above...there are definitely a lot of spec homes on southwest Idaho with RV garages. They're very popular right now.

Personally...I get the practical positives of them, but I just don't like the aesthetic at all. We have an older home with a little property so we have plenty of room to park our fifth wheel out back. It isn't weather protected like it would be in a garage but I much prefer the way our home looks. We do have a large shop with a 12' door that our fifth wheel won't fit in currently, but we may swap in a 14' door at some point to accommodate it.

I'm with you, I don't like the giant doors facing the street. In my post above I mentioned we looked at homes in Boise. The one with the 2 RV bays and a regular garage, all you saw from the front was garage doors. The whole street was like that too, and to me, it felt like driving down a road in a storage facility. My favorite house was right between Nampa and Meridian and while it had a huge RV bay (45' plus a 25' shop behind it with a lower ceiling), it was set back from front of the house even though it was still attached, and the main 3 car garage was a side load, so it wasn't so like "HEY LOOK AT ALL OUR GARAGES" when you were looking at it from the front.

I've always planned to buy rural property, build an "shop" large enough for the RV and some living space inside. My investment would be small and resale shouldn't be tainted, as many looking to build rural would appreciate the value of a "shop".

I'm guessing I could do this round about the same price as a starter home. I personally wouldn't want a home valued over 300k with the RV garage option. Just too limited in resale.

Lots of homes in my neighborhood have either attached RV garages, or separate ones. It's a newer neighborhood though, oldest home here is only about 6 years old. We'll be building a separate one in the next few years.

We also went house hunting in the Boise area (Star, Meridian, Middleton, Nampa, Caldwell) last fall and every home we looked at had an RV garage, attached. One had two bays for RVs along with an extra deep 2 car bay. Now, that was one of our requirements but there sure was plenty to pick from. I was a bit dumbfounded at the builders who spent the money to build an oversized garage, but not make it tall enough for a 5th wheel. We ran into that a few times...homes with an 11 or 12' door instead of 14. I guess they had boats or travel trailers in mind instead.

There were spec homes with air conditioned rv garages in the Phx west valley. I wasn't going to pay Denver prices when I came back to Co. So I found a 5 acre horse property at Pueblo and built the house and oversized double rv garage, exactly like I wanted them. Hardly any restrictions with a horse property! I grew up on a farm with buildings to keep everything covered and this is like going back... but without the stink or chores to do before sunrise and dark. I LOVE it!! Craig

IdaD wrote:

ReneeG wrote:
Here in Idaho, the Boise area, there are a lot of subdivisions with these types of homes. Good friends had a new home built in an upper end subdivision, with a three car garage and 40' RV garage and they aren't the only ones. RV's are popular here. They moved from Palm Springs first to Carson City, NV hoping to build like that and couldn't at an affordable price so they came back home to Idaho and built within their price range.

Yeah I was just going to comment to the contractor above...there are definitely a lot of spec homes on southwest Idaho with RV garages. They're very popular right now.

Personally...I get the practical positives of them, but I just don't like the aesthetic at all. We have an older home with a little property so we have plenty of room to park our fifth wheel out back. It isn't weather protected like it would be in a garage but I much prefer the way our home looks. We do have a large shop with a 12' door that our fifth wheel won't fit in currently, but we may swap in a 14' door at some point to accommodate it.

We live in an older subdivision, but two homeowners built RV garages. One built a pole barn and enclosed it. It looks very nice and is trimmed and painted to match his house. I'd like to do that. We park our FW beside our house and have more than enough room to do this on our corner lot.

Spent a Spring Break in Lake Havasu City, there are a lot of houses down there of just that style. Probably, to protect their RVs from the sun.