12-09-2015, 05:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-09-2015, 05:31 PM by Roadracer_Al.)
We had an interesting experience buying our current home. We contacted a real estate agent who had been recommended to us to show us around neighborhoods in Oakland. Long story short, we bought the first one we looked at because it had room ----> LOTS of room for a shop.
The house is unusual - the original footprint of the home was tiny. A nearby home (much bigger) was red-tagged due to a landslide. The roof was cut off the original house, and new foundations & walls installed to match the bigger home, which was jacked up and dropped on top.
The original house had been gutted to do the work, and never refinished. The upstairs and downstairs don't have a stairwell -- you have to go outside to get into the shop. The lower part was the only part of the house we could see on our first visit. I joked that if there was a warm place to poop upstairs that we'd take it. We did make a proper offer after seeing the upstairs.
The original house is my shop space, and the second story is our living space. The added area for the bigger footprint forms a narrow/deep 2 car garage which isn't actually wide enough for cars (if you want to get out of the car after you drive it into the garage, that is) but it's great for motorcycles.
I didn't think I'd ever have a home with a real shop area anywhere in the Bay Area. Nearly every time I go into the shop, I'm grateful for it.
The house is unusual - the original footprint of the home was tiny. A nearby home (much bigger) was red-tagged due to a landslide. The roof was cut off the original house, and new foundations & walls installed to match the bigger home, which was jacked up and dropped on top.
The original house had been gutted to do the work, and never refinished. The upstairs and downstairs don't have a stairwell -- you have to go outside to get into the shop. The lower part was the only part of the house we could see on our first visit. I joked that if there was a warm place to poop upstairs that we'd take it. We did make a proper offer after seeing the upstairs.
The original house is my shop space, and the second story is our living space. The added area for the bigger footprint forms a narrow/deep 2 car garage which isn't actually wide enough for cars (if you want to get out of the car after you drive it into the garage, that is) but it's great for motorcycles.
I didn't think I'd ever have a home with a real shop area anywhere in the Bay Area. Nearly every time I go into the shop, I'm grateful for it.