In dense communities and city centers parking can be a commodity that is far too rare. In these communities parking can be the difference between selling a home or not. In the best case scenario, parking can create a 20% or greater swing in the value of a home. Older cities such as Annapolis, Maryland which have “historic districts” which is USHUD real estate speak for “No parking” see parking as a prime reason to buy or to not buy a home.

Everything from lugging bags of groceries to your front door to dings and dents in your car due to people parallel parking that should not be allowed to be driving at all impact the value of a home without off street parking.

People in cities like Charleston South Carolina, Savannah Georgia and thousands of other cities that were built before the invention of the automobile suffer from the same issues that keep us from wanting to live in a home without convenient, available parking. They look wonderful from the outside and open air buses take tourists on jaunts around town to show off their historic districts and people see the architecture and say to themselves. “I would love to live there” but they don’t think about the lack of convenience that inadequate parking represents because they are driving by on a bus not struggling to find a parking space just to be able to be home after a hard day’s work.

That is why people who live in historic districts hold off street parking close to hart as on street parking often is hard to find and once found must be navigated into as if squeezing a pickle into a bottle which is already filled with pickles. Garages, carports, even a parking spot off the street can generate a much higher price than an equally sized home without any parking. This is where the historic districts of most towns come into play as they try to maintain the look and feel of the original home (which didn’t have parking because there were no such thing as cars).

Adding off street parking to historic homes or especially homes designated as “historic” are nearly impossible to get permission to create off street parking as the Historical Societies don’t want to lower curbs let alone change the look of the home.

Many cities have done a good job of creating public parking near the historic districts but nothing will take the place of off street parking on your own USHUD property.