Frequently Asked Questions

What is a garage apartment?

A garage apartment is typically an efficiency or studio-style apartment located above a garage. Loosely the term garage apartment is used to describe any apartment that is separate in some way from a main residence. The size of a garage apartment may range between 400 - 1000 square feet. Garage apartments have been apart of downtown neighborhood areas for many years.  In recent years with the success of traditional and new urban communities the number of garage apartments has started to increase across the United States. Garage apartments are often described as a granny flat or carriage house, however the technical term is accessory dwelling unit.

Why live in a garage apartment?

By choosing to live in a garage apartment people are choosing to be more efficient. Garage apartments provide individuals an alternative to the hustle and noise of apartment communities, and a chance to participate in a real community. From a financial perspective garage apartments can be extremely economical. In most cases all utilities and in some instances even cable and Internet access are included in the lease.

What is GarageApartments.com?

GarageApartments.com provides homeowners the ability to post and manage their garage apartment in a public database that is intuitive and free from pop-up advertisement. For example once your property is in the database you will be able to choose how people inquire with you about the property (email or postal service). Also you will have the ability to indicate whether or not the property is currently available. The best part is that this service is free for both the property owner and the future tenant.

How do a find a garage apartment for rent?

You have found the perfect place to locate a garage apartment. Over time this site will warehouse the largest database of garage apartments in the United States, but until that time the best place to start your search is a local newspaper. After local print has been exhausted, common posting areas found in university centers and town halls are excellent resources as well. In the mean time keep checking our site for updates in your area.

What is new urbanism?

Several large books have been written to explain new urbanism.  In our opinion, new urbanism is a return to real communities.  These communities are functional, promote a real neighborhood by downplaying the importance and need of an automobile, and contain a mix of housing types (such as garage apartments).  These new communities also often contain commercial property of many different types.  For more information on new urbanism, check out our bookstore links.

Do you have any garage apartment floor plans?

Yes. We are now offering garage apartment plans on our site.

If garage apartments are so great, why haven't I ever seen any on TV?

Actually, I can think of two TV families that had garage apartments.  The Cunningham's from Happy Days and the Camden's from 7th Heaven.  For more information on these two garage apartments check out our "Garage Apartments on TV" section.