Architecture & Building

What is a coach house?  

A coach house, also known as a carriage house is best described as an outbuilding or a house situated above a row of carports or garages. They were originally built before cars were around and were made to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. Although the days of horse and carriages are gone, this is a well sought out property to lease to tenants.  

Current usages –  

Since we don’t use horses and carriages nowadays, here is a list of modern usages:  

• Apartments 
• Guest houses 
• Automobile garages  
• Offices 
• Workshops 
• Retail shops  
• Bars 
• Restaurants  
• Secondary homes 

How popular are coach houses?  

Coach houses aren’t a hugely popular property, but they are becoming more well known. If you’re a property buyer or investor, you may want to consider purchasing a coach house to rent out.  

Advantages and disadvantages of a coach house-  

Advantages  

• Very affordable  

Coach houses are usually second dwellings, it allows the property owner to live in the main house while renting out the coach house. Because a coach house is attached to its garage, they are often cheaper all around than a property that has a detached garage or carport of the same size.  

• Don’t live above any neighbours  

A great advantage of living in a coach house is that you don’t live above or below any neighbours. This means that you would never get a noise complaint, and you can be as loud as you like.   

• Got get a bit of land 

Unlike flats or apartments, coach homes have yet to have some land because they are separate buildings. Having a garden space is important for some tenants to relax and unwind. If you are a landlord you may want to think about installing a garden for the coach house. A garden could be a Wishlist item for some tenants.  

• Cost effective  

The money spent on taking care of a smaller space is a lot lesser than what’s required for a bigger space. You will spend less money on cooling, heating, and general home maintenance. You also won’t have enough space for unnecessary things when you go shopping.  

Disadvantages –  

• Poorly insulated  

One of the biggest disadvantages is that they have a bad reputation of being difficult to heat and cool. Before jumping straight into buying the property you should check to see if the garage below is insulated.   

• Hard to resell  

If your plan it to buy one of these houses and re-sell it you should rethink that idea. It will be far easier to rent out than to fully resell the property. This is due to the demand being lower than family homes, so these properties often sell below value. 

• They are hard to insure 

They are hard to insure because they are a combination style building. Which makes comprehensive insurance difficult to get or much more expensive.