Homes
Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: My Most Surprising Revelation From Observing My Neighbors
In past installments of this series, I’ve discussed how game-changing having an attached garage has been. On a basic level, coming from an apartment complex, it’s nice not to have anyone complain about where we park for any reason—or having to move our car last minute for some event or maintenance. It’s also great not having to worry about running from our car to the house during heavy rain or fearing that our vehicle will endure dents should severe hail arrive. Plus, speaking of weather, another benefit of having a garage is that our car stays at least a few degrees warmer than it would be outside in the winter or cooler than it would be outside in the summer. This removes the temptation to let it run before using it in summer as well as the need to defrost before driving in winter.
Considering all of these perks, I’ve been shocked by how seemingly few of our neighbors park their cars in their respective garages. After all, I figured that was the entire point of garages — and why we even measure the size of them in number of cars. Instead, though, it feels as though nearly every other household in our small division leaves at least one vehicle parked out in the driveway. So why is this?
When I looked into potential studies or data on how many homeowners use their garages for vehicles, I did come across a 2022 survey conducted by Atomik Research and commissioned by the tool brand Craftsman. It found that 36% of homeowners surveyed admitted that their garages were too cluttered to park a vehicle in — with 62% even saying that the garage was the most cluttered part of their home.
Of course, while it’s fair to assume that a good percentage of people turn their garages over to random items, I suspect that there’s at least a bit more focus for others. Specifically, I’m inclined to believe that a number of neighbors use their garages to house their tools as well as work on projects. Anecdotally, having walked down the street on many a weekend day in spring or summer, I can tell you that’s true. Sure enough, Craftman’s survey found that 53% of respondents said they used their garages for DIY projects. Interestingly, this was even more common among Millenials like myself, with 62% of my generational cohorts reporting as much.
So it turns out that, while I just assumed that garages were for cars, I’m actually in the minority on this! Then again, I’m sure that there are several factors that impact garage-use preference, including location. Here in southern Missouri, I suppose it makes sense that my neighbors might rather use their garages for storing tools or even recreational vehicles rather than cars. Moreover, seeing as many around here drive trucks, I’m not even sure trying to pull into a garage would be a smart move.
All this is to say that, even if I was taken aback to find we were pretty much alone in using our garage to park our cars, there’s ultimately nothing wrong with other options. In fact, that’s the beauty of being a homeowner: the freedom to do what you want with your property (at least if you don’t have an HOA, that is). So, while I’ll keep enjoying parking in my attached garage, I’m now very curious to hear how others use theirs.
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