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Is it possible to find a very small workshop

sotomo

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This might not be exactly real estate investing, but I thought that real estate experts would be the the most likely to know the answer to this question.

My wife and I downsized to a very small lake house, still have our old house, and I would like a workshop and/or garage, instead, to use for "workshop" type stuff. It would need to be cheap, like less than $120k, the less the better, obviously. The problem is, we live in the far NW Chicago suburbs and I can only find homes in neighborhoods that do not seem conducive to someone setting up a workshop. There are plenty of opportunities to rent/lease spaces, but I really hate the idea of renting/leasing and would like to own. Zillow, for instance, only shows homes. Are there places like this to buy that I'm not aware of, or am I looking for something that does not exist?
 
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WJK

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Are you looking for something that has a house on it, or a free-standing building? Do you need land around it?

Do you have any "blighted" retail space close to you where you could look? You'd have to check on the zoning laws, but you don't sound like your use would be industrial -- it sound more personal. Retail space has fallen on hard times. Some retail space has a loading door on the back of the building giving it "garage" access. You'll need a good commercial real estate agent and money in your pocket. There is usually no conventional financing for this type of property so get out your check book.

Or, there are residential properties with over-sized garages in most neighborhoods. Again, you need a real estate agent to find the right one. You could rent the house to a tenant and retain possession of the garage for your personal use. As a rental property, most financing programs are 70% LTV.

Think outside of your box. There's several ways to skin this cat...
 

sotomo

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Are you looking for something that has a house on it, or a free-standing building? Do you need land around it?

Do you have any "blighted" retail space close to you where you could look? You'd have to check on the zoning laws, but you don't sound like your use would be industrial -- it sound more personal. Retail space has fallen on hard times. Some retail space has a loading door on the back of the building giving it "garage" access. You'll need a good commercial real estate agent and money in your pocket. There is usually no conventional financing for this type of property so get out your check book.

Or, there are residential properties with over-sized garages in most neighborhoods. Again, you need a real estate agent to find the right one. You could rent the house to a tenant and retain possession of the garage for your personal use. As a rental property, most financing programs are 70% LTV.

Think outside of your box. There's several ways to skin this cat...

Ok thanks for the advise... I'll change my search strategy and look for an agent. I've got a little money saved up, the rest is tied up in the current house and retirement savings. Another issue is when selling the house, where to put all our stuff until the new place is found. We've got a real estate agent next door who sold us the lake house but I'm not sure if this would be his specialty, might need to find someone else. The is new to me so I'll see what I can find.
 

alexkuzmov

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This might not be exactly real estate investing, but I thought that real estate experts would be the the most likely to know the answer to this question.

My wife and I downsized to a very small lake house, still have our old house, and I would like a workshop and/or garage, instead, to use for "workshop" type stuff. It would need to be cheap, like less than $120k, the less the better, obviously. The problem is, we live in the far NW Chicago suburbs and I can only find homes in neighborhoods that do not seem conducive to someone setting up a workshop. There are plenty of opportunities to rent/lease spaces, but I really hate the idea of renting/leasing and would like to own. Zillow, for instance, only shows homes. Are there places like this to buy that I'm not aware of, or am I looking for something that does not exist?
Dont know about real estate, but I`m curious.
What do you plan to use the workshop for?
 
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sotomo

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Dont know about real estate, but I`m curious.
What do you plan to use the workshop for?

At this point, I'm not 100% sure, but I've got a laser cutter, welder and other tools that I could use for miscellaneous projects. I've spent the last couple years work on the lake house so haven't had time to pursue my past goals. Still working on figuring it out.
 

alexkuzmov

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At this point, I'm not 100% sure, but I've got a laser cutter, welder and other tools that I could use for miscellaneous projects. I've spent the last couple years work on the lake house so haven't had time to pursue my past goals. Still working on figuring it out.
Hmmm
Well do you have land?
Can you build a shed or something and power it?
Realistically you only need a closed, powered, heated building.
From there, it depends on what you`ll be making, no?
 

WJK

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Ok thanks for the advise... I'll change my search strategy and look for an agent. I've got a little money saved up, the rest is tied up in the current house and retirement savings. Another issue is when selling the house, where to put all our stuff until the new place is found. We've got a real estate agent next door who sold us the lake house but I'm not sure if this would be his specialty, might need to find someone else. The is new to me so I'll see what I can find.
Put out your feelers and talk to a few people. Find the area you want to buy in, and call everyone who has a sign in that area. Ask LOTS of questions. Get a clipboard and take notes of what properties you see, hear about, and who you talked to. Make this a business decision rather than a gut decision. It's your money. Spend it well.
Where do you put your stuff? First of all, downsize. Everyone I know has too much stuff. Then rent some storage for the moment. Get stuff out of that storage as you need it. Everything that you don't need to get out of the storage, gets to be evaluated for the list of another-thing-that-you-don't-need-anymore. And set a time line for how long you are going to keep the storage unit. Don't rent space for the stuff you don't need in perpetuity.
 
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Michael Burgess

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Not that you'd necessarily want the headaches associated with it... but if you could find a larger property (whether office space, industrial yard you put shipping containers on, or warehouse-type building), you could keep some of the space for yourself and rent the rest out. That could be another nice little stream of income and equity gain as your tenants pay the mortgage for you, and you help others solve the same problem you have!
 

sotomo

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Hmmm
Well do you have land?
Can you build a shed or something and power it?
Realistically you only need a closed, powered, heated building.
From there, it depends on what you`ll be making, no?
No unfortunately we don't have land, just very small yards. The easiest thing would be to keep the current house and just keep using it. Just think a garage type structure would be more appropriate.
 

sotomo

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Not that you'd necessarily want the headaches associated with it... but if you could find a larger property (whether office space, industrial yard you put shipping containers on, or warehouse-type building), you could keep some of the space for yourself and rent the rest out. That could be another nice little stream of income and equity gain as your tenants pay the mortgage for you, and you help others solve the same problem you have!

Yeah I was considering that. That would be interesting.
 
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sotomo

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Put out your feelers and talk to a few people. Find the area you want to buy in, and call everyone who has a sign in that area. Ask LOTS of questions. Get a clipboard and take notes of what properties you see, hear about, and who you talked to. Make this a business decision rather than a gut decision. It's your money. Spend it well.
Where do you put your stuff? First of all, downsize. Everyone I know has too much stuff. Then rent some storage for the moment. Get stuff out of that storage as you need it. Everything that you don't need to get out of the storage, gets to be evaluated for the list of another-thing-that-you-don't-need-anymore. And set a time line for how long you are going to keep the storage unit. Don't rent space for the stuff you don't need in perpetuity.
Ok, organization and a game plan is the key. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm trying to get the old house cleaned up and ready for sale. I didn't want to rent storage, but maybe it's the only way.
 

WJK

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Ok, organization and a game plan is the key. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm trying to get the old house cleaned up and ready for sale. I didn't want to rent storage, but maybe it's the only way.
When my dad was still with us, he found a house, in a nearby city, on a corner that had two garages -- one facing each of the streets. He sold what was left of our family farm, where he had his big shop, and moved into those two garages with all of his tools. You'd be amazed at what you can find.
 

sotomo

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he had his big shop, and moved into those two garages with all of his tools.

That's what I want. Although not sure how my wife would like me living there full time... Actually she might not mind that much. I'll keep looking.
 
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WJK

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That's what I want. Although not sure how my wife would like me living there full time... Actually she might not mind that much. I'll keep looking.
Some notes for you from someone who has been there, done that: IF you do store your stuff, number each box or tote. Keep a notebook listing each of those numbers and what is in each one. Arrange the boxes and totes carefully in your storage so you don't have to unpack or move every box when you're looking for something. It is amazing how much stuff we accumulate over time. It also amazing how much we don't need all of that stuff.

My husband and I live on 10 acres in the woods. We bought a smaller adjacent lot where we were going to build ourselves a new house. BUT, we're going to stay where we are. We built him a 30'X50' mechanical shop a few years ago. He's the envy of all of his friends. We also have a smaller woodshop, storage buildings, outbuildings, woodshed, awnings to park the equipment, sawmill area, etc where we're living. We would have spent about $250,000 on a new house. The southern exposure would have been nice. Having a more direct driveway rather than our long private road would have been easier. We're fixing up where we are rather than building the new house. The bottom line is that my husband would have been too far from this shop and other work areas. Everything now is a few steps from our front door.

You may be amazed at what your wife will do to make you happy.
 

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