I live in my parents’ garage with my kids because renting was so expensive – it’s tiny but works for us and I save loads
A WOMAN has revealed that she lives in her parents’ garage with her children because renting was far too expensive.
Karla Bracamontes, who is from San Diego, is a stay-at-home mum and content creator, who lives in a two car garage with her daughters.
Thanks to the unique ‘tiny home’, the mum-of-three is able to save money on rent, and be close to her parents.
Posting on social media, Karla gave her followers a close-up look at her garage home, as she shared a short clip with the caption ‘Mini home tour, living in my parents’ garage.’
As she proudly went into each room, she said: “So this door right here leads to my parent’s backyard. This is the garage.”
Karla showed off inside her home, which is complete with a living area with an L-shaped, grey sofa.
The garage home also has a kitchen, as well as a dining table.
As well as this, the home has a bathroom, with a sink and toilet.
There’s two bedrooms in the garage – in the children’s room, there’s a set of bunk beds and a small children’s bed, as well as plenty of storage.
Karla then showed off her bedroom, complete with a large wardrobe space and a double bed.
The savvy mum explained: “That’s pretty much it, it’s tiny, but honestly, it’s perfect for us.
“But eventually we’re gonna have to move out. That’s that!”
Karla later penned: “My daughters love to have grandma so close – they go over and play all the time or have girls night with her.”
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @karlabracamontess, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 406,800 views.
Are you allowed to convert a garage into a bedroom?
USING average house price figures from Zoopla, Admiral Loans crunched the numbers and worked out that each square foot of living space is worth £350 on average.
Typically, the size of a small single garage in the UK is 128 square feet making the additional space worth £45,000.
A standard conversion costs between £4,995 and £7,500 depending on what work you have done, according to householdquotes.co.uk, which will of course eat into your profits.
If the garage is attached to your home you won’t even need to pay for planning permission, which currently costs £206.
The work falls under “permitted development rules”, which allows you to make certain changes to your home as long as it’s within limits.
This is because you’re not really altering the outside dimensions of the building.
But you will need to apply to the local authority if your garage is separate to your house, you live in a flat or maisonette or in a listed building.
It’s worth checking before starting any work that there aren’t any planning conditions attached to your property – you can do this by writing to the local authority.
If you plough on with building work that actually required permission, you may be ordered to take it down.
SOCIAL MEDIA USERS BEAM
Social media users were left stunned at Karla’s garage home and many took to the comments to express this.
Wow it’s literally set up like an actual home
TikTok user
One person said: “Not going to lie, that’s so cute! Going to show my mum tomorrow. Maybe she’ll give me her garage.”
Another added: “You make it work and that’s what matters. Later you’ll reminisce on how you guys did it and it’ll give you great satisfaction and pride.”
Meanwhile, a third chimed in: “Wow it’s literally set up like an actual home! I didn’t know this was a garage.”
I’m beyond blessed to be able to do this
Karla Bracamontes
To this, Karla responded: “Yes we loved the outcome and especially how we have our privacy and the kiddos too.”
At the same time, someone else wrote: “Damn I wish my parents had a garage so I can live with them but here I am paying almost $2k for an apartment.”
To which Karla wrote back and shared: “I totally feel you, I’m beyond blessed to be able to do this. CA is crazy expensive.”
Similarly, another user explained: “I love this. I tell my mum I’m moving into her backyard all the time. I’m going to get myself a small RV.”
Karla then replied and penned: “Girl do it if you can. Save some money for your own home.”
Meanwhile, another user admitted: “I live in a garage as well, and honestly it’s not big but I love my lil garage.”
To this, Karla replied and penned: “Girl I do too, esspecially because you make it feel like home for your family.”
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