buying toys and a lack of garage space

Well, like most people here I want to buy more toys than I have garage space for.

I live in Socal where RE is at a premium. I have considered lifts, self storage, renting/buying/sharing warehouse space, etc. Currently have 4 cars and 3 bikes at my primary home and I don’t mind pay for extra parking but want to find the point of diminishing return on acquiring vs maintaing toys? Cost, maintenance, storage, registration costs etc. At what point do you tell yourself, no more cars? How far do you have to travel to get to your toys in storage to say it is worth the drive? 10, 20, 40 miles? If I had cheap warehouse locally I wouldn’t mind filling it up, but to what point does that becomes a pain? How far should that storage facility be before it make it worthwhile and local to have? Living a high rise I wish I had a place to work/store offroad toys.

 

I originally told myself 4 cars max is all I should have at one time. I find myself intentionally driving them to put mileage on them. And I am not talking about expensive cars but possibly beater toys to have fun with.

 

I am sure there are other with this issue, so where is the fine balance before this hobby transforms from enjoyment to a hassle?

I wish this was my problem, but what about getting a warehouse, and finding a way to rent a part of it to recoup the $?

I wish this was my problem, but what about getting a warehouse, and finding a way to rent a part of it to recoup the $?

I am still considering all options and local rent prices. Security is an issues as well/

I wouldn't want to have too many and then they sit too long between uses. I think 4 or 5 is solid. Multiple bikes I don't really consider an issue. I have the Diablo and a stretched fat tire hayabusa sandwiched in a one car garage. It sucks

Would you use toys which aren't easily accessible to you, stored offsite? I can't deal well with inconvenience and if they aren't handy I wouldn't use them but that's just me.

 

Bigger principal place of residence is always the answer IMO, 2nd choice would be buying a warehouse I hate paying rent so I wouldn't rent. Good luck.

I agree with Fortis, if they are a pain to get to you wont use them. I had the same issue, 4 cars, 2 trucks, 5 (2 dirt, 3 street) motorbikes, and a boat.... I ended up being at a point where I had to move stuff around every time I wanted to get something out. In my case it was more wasteful since they were all summer toys in a city that has 3 months of summer so I ended up cutting down to one bike, the Lambo and the Range Rover, plus the GF's 3 series..... Where I live all bikes, street and dirt need registration and insurance... nearest decent lake was 6 hours away and launching at public launches was a royal pain..... Plus always buying batteries, tires, oil changes, registration, insurance etc etc .... I found when the weather was nice I wasn't going to leave the Lambo home to take the bikes. Anyways I had a hard time parting with my toys but don't miss them since I have the key players still.

Facing same problem as you, my friend. Bought a lot to build a new home (but that takes a long time between design, permits and build). Currently 3 car garage storing 5 cars via a lift. But to get more cars, we need to either build again, or put another lift in current garage (husband's idea) or buy a warehouse and continue to accumulate toys there (my idea). I don't think the warehouse idea is without merit. I proposed getting one close to office and switching cars out after/before work and storing car that's currently being played with at home garage...that takes care of convenience aspect of equation. I also will have a child that will be driving in 4 years so need space for a car for him as well.

Do you guys have anything like this close to you? Ive seen this complex and its nice. Look for something like this. Or maybe a new business idea.

 

http://automotorplex.com/

Warehouse is the way to go. Scotty has a pretty sick set up with private access codes and cameras. A bunch of guys keep their cars there.

Always wondered about this as well.

 

A buddy of mine has a 3 car setup and stores 5 cars in it via lifts. In my opinion 2 lifts in a 3 car garage is a little cramped for my likings.

 

I personally wouldn't have a warehouse more than 10-15 minutes away. Granted I don't live in a major city so a 15 min drive can get me pretty far opposed to someone who lives In a major city the same distance might be 25-30 mins.

 

Buying a warehouse vs leasing one. Leasing is much less liability but no equity, plus if you ever decide to sell I'm not sure how easy it is to sell commercial space. Also consider it might not be super easy to find a warehouse you feel comfortable leaving expensive toys at.

 

 

 

Always wondered about this as well.

 

A buddy of mine has a 3 car setup and stores 5 cars in it via lifts. In my opinion 2 lifts in a 3 car garage is a little cramped for my likings.

 

I personally wouldn't have a warehouse more than 10-15 minutes away. Granted I don't live in a major city so a 15 min drive can get me pretty far opposed to someone who lives In a major city the same distance might be 25-30 mins.

 

Buying a warehouse vs leasing one. Leasing is much less liability but no equity, plus if you ever decide to sell I'm not sure how easy it is to sell commercial space. Also consider it might not be super easy to find a warehouse you feel comfortable leaving expensive toys at.

2 lifts in a double deep single bay isn't appealing to me either (although hubby thinks he can make it work). Owning commercial space currently, I can tell you resell is actually easier than residential real estate. I think if you were to have others store their cars there too (for a fee), buying a warehouse would actually pay for itself. Personally, I'd want to fill the space with MY toys

 

 

 

Would you use toys which aren't easily accessible to you, stored offsite? I can't deal well with inconvenience and if they aren't handy I wouldn't use them but that's just me.

 

Bigger principal place of residence is always the answer IMO, 2nd choice would be buying a warehouse I hate paying rent so I wouldn't rent. Good luck.

 

 

That's what we did...bought a house with a 7 car garage.

I ran into the same issue and ended up getting another house with a 2 car garage. It's a smaller townhouse but it has a 2 car garage. The house is right in the heart of where I usually hang out so I justified it because of the convenience. I gave me old house to my mom but told her the garage was off limits. So I have 2X two-car garages. I also have covered parking at my office and it's pretty safe. But when I leave stuff there I see handprints all over the windshield.

I feel like no matter where you keep a car, if it is anywhere but your home you're not going to drive it very often, and in my opinion it's a waste to have cars that you aren't going to drive. I use garage lifts to make more room and I just upgraded my lift set up to be able to store more cars in my relatively small garage. I am considering building a second garage on my property as well.

 

I have a bunch of warehouse space but I refuse to put my cars there because 1. I am too cheap to not rent the space out to generate revenue and 2. I don't think I would drive my cars if I had to go to a warehouse to get to them.

At one time, I had upwards of 30 cars, had units all over the city, some cars in restoration, others just sitting around rotting and I got sick and tired of the whole thing. I agree with a lot of the posts here, chances are if you don't have easy access to a car, you will not drive it that much, if at all.

I got rid of 20 cars the last 5 years and I am a happier person now even though they still don't all fit in my garage.

I didn't know daddyo was a hoarder, I will have to contact VCR so we can stage an intervention but come to think of it I don't think he's better than you, he keeps on buying and buying

 

That's what we did...bought a house with a 7 car garage.

 

It was a genius idea!

 

I'm moving again but there's a 95% chance the new place will have a max 4 with lifts garage. I was looking at picking up an industrial condo so i could store cars/extra stuff, but here they're not cheap. If it was 50k I'd buy one. Priced one today, 180k for 940 sq feet.

It was a genius idea!

 

I'm moving again but there's a 95% chance the new place will have a max 4 with lifts garage. I was looking at picking up an industrial condo so i could store cars/extra stuff, but here they're not cheap. If it was 50k I'd buy one. Priced one today, 180k for 940 sq feet.

 

 

Hey if u need space for your Murci....

2300 Sq ft warehouse = $233K in SLC

 

Do you guys have anything like this close to you? Ive seen this complex and its nice. Look for something like this. Or maybe a new business idea.

 

http://automotorplex.com/

 

I have a garage here ^^.. it's ~ 6 miles from my house.

 

I only have room at home for one 'fun' car and rotate said fun car with others on the way to and from work or on the weekends.

 

If you don't have the space at home, and you don't want to move, then IMO it's a very viable alternative - provided you're within 15 minutes.

 

One advantage of a dedicated 'car' space is that it allows one to work on cars at a level that you probably wouldn't do at home - fabricating, welding, etc.

 

It also may allow you to store boats/toys/RV's. That's a common cross-use at AMP.

 

Scotty created his own uni-garage for a number of guys to share the common area... not a bad play.

 

FWIW - AutoMotorplex has about 125 units.

Offer to split the rent with someone who already has a small private plane in hangar.

Wow, you have to love LP after the wisdom shared on this post by all its members. It saved me alot of lot of thought, $$, headache, heartache, searching for secure garage space and all the other BS. Thanks for all the responses.

 

My personal opinion is if I have garage space for it I will buy it but my cap is 4 cars per home.

 

 

I have a 3 car with lift, but my next home will 100% have a 4 car + lift.

the worst is trying to dodge and duck around 2 lifts with barely any room to walk.

 

I have a 3 car with lift, but my next home will 100% have a 4 car + lift.

the worst is trying to dodge and duck around 2 lifts with barely any room to walk.

 

Whats a PIA for me is-I only have 3 cars, but because my driveway is only 2 wide (with a 2CG), I always have to move one out of the way and then back into place afterwards to get out.