Robby P. Well we did buy the house at $45,000.....So it would be a good profit. Plus that's not bad (price wise), since my town has the most "empty" houses in the PA. Here's a picture of my house.
Well we did buy the house at $45,000.....So it would be a good profit. Plus that's not bad (price wise), since my town has the most "empty" houses in the PA.
Here's a picture of my house.
In Vancouver a 35' x 100' lot with that house is over $1,000,000.00. It's insane that so much of our hard work has to be tied up in our homes. Oh well at least we have homes.
Example;
For Sale: $1,349,900
Building Type : House
Bedrooms : 5
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
HamltnblueWhy are the homes vacant in the area? Economy or the river that winds around it?
Its just your old steel mill town. Monessen use to be the place to be in the 40's, 50's, etc (what the older people say)..... Now its a old town, and just not much here. A "coke plant" is still in use thou. Its in the middle of town and its called "Koppers".
The older people have passed away, and the younger crowd moved to a better city. Its not a bad town thou. Its about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
Why are the homes vacant in the area? Economy or the river that winds around it?
An appraiser wouldn't comment on anything because the layout doesn't affect the value of the house. It does affect the sell price though.
Consider a couple walking through. The wife would see it and think she'd never be able to see her husband or have the opportunity to nag him since he'd have a place to retreat to.
Springfield PA
Hi!
Your posting obviously rang a lot of bells out there, and I'll add to it.....
- If you are not putting your house up for sale, the realtor "friend" was wayyyy out of line and should have known better.
- If you are putting your house up for sale - assuming the layout is not being sold with it - then you do need to take the layout beforehand and get the room back into "usable" shape. You are going to have to take it down anyway, so just do it beforehand.
- Having said that, I do have a story to add... I've transferred around a few times with my employers, and owned 6 houses during that time. In 1977 I lived in Joliet Illinois, and had an 8x12 HO layout in the basement, which was relatively unfinished. The long side of the layout was up against a block wall, and I had painted in a 3x14 ft. backdrop directly on the wall.
The first weekend of the sale two families came to look at the house, and both spent more time checking out the layout than the rest of the house. In all honesty, there was more interest in the layout than the house itself. Well, BOTH families made a full price offer that day, with some confusion as to "who was first". So, one made a second offer for $500 more which was accepted.
While my head was a bit swollen over the attention to the layout, I was surprised that the house itself wasn't the object of primary interest. Go figure.......
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
That's unbelievable. A mile from my house there's a place that is about twice that size that rents for $15,000/month. It looks like I need to move to the east.
The layout was constructed so the domino sections could be moved from one house to a new house or placed in storage until a new layout location could be found. I have also used some of the dominos in a spare bedroom as a small switching layout.
Not knowing of the long term stability of my employment, I elected to sell the layout benchwork with the house, but retained the rolling stock, locomotives and DCC system. I also sold most of my furniture as I moved to small apartment and did not wnat to pay for long term storage.
My current layout has several dominos that were constructed for the apartment layout and moved to the new basement. My MRR skills have improved and some of the dominos I kept the benchwork and removed the track and started over.
Jim, Modeling the Kansas City Southern Lines in HO scale.
Robby P.Plus the house came back at $70,000
The layout might be worth more than the house....
I can say this......We just got our house appraised and I have a layout at the size of 12x15. It takes up half of the basement, and the appraiser didn't say a word about it. Plus the house came back at $70,000.
The only way I would take it down is if we were going to sell the house. Until then it will stay up.
loatharIRONROOSTER One of the benefits of having an agent to sell your house is: she is an expert on selling a house and knows what needs to be done to sell it in your market. Not necessarily true. I would have thrown the realtor out of my home for spouting off about the layout that way. Especially since you weren't even trying to sell yourt home!
IRONROOSTER One of the benefits of having an agent to sell your house is: she is an expert on selling a house and knows what needs to be done to sell it in your market.
One of the benefits of having an agent to sell your house is: she is an expert on selling a house and knows what needs to be done to sell it in your market.
Not necessarily true. I would have thrown the realtor out of my home for spouting off about the layout that way. Especially since you weren't even trying to sell yourt home!
There are people in every occupation who are not competent. When hiring an agent, you have to get someone competent. In this case, this is an acquaintance expressing an unsolicited opinion. To label a whole profession based on a personal opinion is extreme. This wasn't a professional relationship - this person may be very good at selling houses. Frankly, even assuming the situation is correctly described, the OP's reaction seems a bit extreme.
I am currently in the process of selling a house. Getting a real estate agent has been the best decision I've made.
Enjoy
jamnestabove my new 1800 sq ft basement, which was designed for my dream layout. JOB CHANGE We are now in an apartment 500 miles from the layout.
If you don't mind my making the observation... it doesn't seem like it matters a whit what construction method you use, since you end up in apartments and unable to take the layout with you in any case.
John
About ten years ago I built a 3 bed room ranch (Topeka KS) with a rectangular 30' x 50' unfinnished basement. The basement was designed with the stairs and utilities so an HO scale shelf style layout could be built around the walls. I was single at the time and took my track plan to the contractor and said that I wanted a three bed room house built on top of this basement. I work in healthcare administration and subject to unexpected job changes. I constructed my layout in modular (dominoes) constructed from quality plywood. The layout was attached to the basemnt walls with 1/4" anchor bolts and the 6' dominos were connected with 1/4" carriage bolts. The layout was designed so I could move it. JOB CHANGE Unfortunatley I moved 500 mi to an apartment and had to leave the layout with the house. I had not completed any scenery, but the layout track was down with Atlas/Walthers Code 83 track, and the layout was wired for DCC with a 12ga bus wire and power districts. The layout was operational.
A few years later I was visiting the LHS in Topeka and the owner said "nice layout" I didn't remember him seeing the layout, but I had purchased a lot of the materials from this LHS. He told me that the people who had purchased my home, the wife refused to move into the house while the layout was there. The husband contacted the LHS and asked them if they would remove the layout for free. The LHS owner said he and his son went to the home and removed the layout intact by disconnecting the sections as I had designed. No demolition was required. He said he stored the sections in his garage for several months and sold it to a retired guy. They reassembled the layout, with some minor modifications into this guys basement. I didn't ask what he sold the layout for.
I am now married, but same problem. I let my wife build her dream home (Topeka KS) above my new 1800 sq ft basement, which was designed for my dream layout. JOB CHANGE We are now in an apartment 500 miles from the layout. I was again using domino construuction in case of a move. I plan to retire in the next ten years and we are keeping the layout, I mean our home. We get back home about once a month and wife (retired teacher) spends some time there and some time here.
I have a small work bench in the apartment and I am spending time converting locos to DCC/Sound and building kits.
I really don't care what a realator thinks, but when it comes time to sell this home the new layout can be easily removed.
It's been said before but to put it bluntly, she's right and it ain't even close.
The worst thing that can be done to a house (and remember we are talking about selling it not owning it) is to over customize and devoting a large space to a rather restricted hobby is about a worst case scenario.
This also applies to decorations, color schemes, even bathrooms.
And in your case you 'over-customized' the BEST (by your own and everyone else's admission) room in the house.
Hey but it is your house and you have a choice when it comes time to sell: Tear out the layout and redo the room or expect rock-bottom dollar for the place, your choice.
Remember nothing is worth what we think it is worth, it is only worth what the buyer is willing to pay.
And as to not hiring her, I would. She was completely honest (is not even vaguely tactful) with you about the damage you did to the resale value of the house and do you have any idea of how many of these agents will lie to your face just to get you to list with them? Swallow your pride and listen to a professional's opinion.
Coquihala and Rock CreekDriline, a Canadian House is round made out of compact snow with a tunnel portal as an entry way that you have to crawl into. Great in the winter but doesn't stay too well in the summer... When we moved 3 years ago the train was on a 4X8 in the corner of the rec room in the basement.
Driline, a Canadian House is round made out of compact snow with a tunnel portal as an entry way that you have to crawl into. Great in the winter but doesn't stay too well in the summer...
When we moved 3 years ago the train was on a 4X8 in the corner of the rec room in the basement.
C&RC, I live up here and didn't know that Igloos had basements.......
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
jwhittenMy guess is that they're not all that palatable. Probably stringy, gristley and a bit chewy, and taste like old shoe leather. John
My guess is that they're not all that palatable. Probably stringy, gristley and a bit chewy, and taste like old shoe leather.
A little HP sauce goes a long way.
After my Rant, I am still pondering over what I would do if I ever were to list the house. Maybe it would be a good time for a fresh start and a new layout. No matter what, with moving my current one it is unlikely to fit ideally into a new home anyway. However if it didn't matter if we sold or not I would not take it down just in case it didn't. I'm a realtors worst nightmare
FlashwaveI believe he said he was just having a real--estate agent for dinner, not selling.
I don't know about others but it gave me some info. If you figure that every house will be sold at some point, it's good to know what others have heard or experienced so that we know what's ahead. Looks like most layouts will meet the chopping block before a house is put on the market or after the home hasn't sold.
He is not selling the house, it was just a rant. In the _first post_, he said
BATMAN Now we are not planning a move at this time, but it got me thinking.
Now we are not planning a move at this time, but it got me thinking.
Amazing how long this thread about nothing has lasted.
He hasn't posted on it in a month so maybe he's simply still running trains and not killing his layout.
HaroldAI know this post has been around for a little while since I responded early on. Batman, my question is, what was your decision and is your house on the market? If ti is, good luck!!
I believe he said he was just having a real--estate agent for dinner, not selling.
Something else to consder, if your gonna have strange people in, it wouldn't be bad to get the layout out of the way so things don't walk away. All you need is a coat rolled under your arm, and cars, engines, can walk away. It;s highly unlikely, but even non-mrrs can see money, and a BLI will leave more easily than can a Plasma TV. This goes for other items that might be in a house.
rrebell Lets face it the average model railroad out there is not the one from the magazines.
Lets face it the average model railroad out there is not the one from the magazines.
-Morgan
BATMANSo I ask you, did you or would you take your layout down to sell your house? I may be talked into including it in the sale of the house, but I don't think I would take it down. What if it didn't sell. Your left with a boring old family room once again.
I know this post has been around for a little while since I responded early on. Batman, my question is, what was your decision and is your house on the market? If ti is, good luck!!
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
ChevelleSSguy Did Allen McCallend market his house towards the model railroading community? I dont recall it being advertised in Model Railroader or anything like that. It was too bad it is gone. That was a part of model railroading history.
Did Allen McCallend market his house towards the model railroading community? I dont recall it being advertised in Model Railroader or anything like that. It was too bad it is gone. That was a part of model railroading history.
I don't know about the guy you mentioned, but W. Alan McClelland (V&O) did try to offer his house for sale to model railroaders with the layout intact. No takers. There were a number of mentions in various places at the time.
JSperanDrilineNice..house! It's not an igloo like I thought it was going to be. That's just because he is in BC. The rest of western Canada live in igloo's and travel by dog sled. BC is more like an annex of the US so houses there are just like yours and they have motorcars...
DrilineNice..house! It's not an igloo like I thought it was going to be.
That's just because he is in BC. The rest of western Canada live in igloo's and travel by dog sled. BC is more like an annex of the US so houses there are just like yours and they have motorcars...
Ya I use to call Winnipeg home until I saw the light warmth.
As a person who was a real estate agent for many years, I take offense to the person who completely insulted ALL real estate agents. Not all real estate agents are bad and conversely not all are good. That's the nature of the game. If I were to say that "buyers are liars" you'd probably get offended if you were a home buyer. Sadly this is a saying in the real estate community and often does in fact apply quite well much of the time. Maybe I should say EVERYONE who plays with trains is an immature simpleton incapable of rational thought. Of course that would apply to me as well so of course I'd never think that! You get the idea.
Profession aside, I see both sides of the argument. I even listed a house that had a room devoted to Lionel with a large layout. I actually didn't want to sell that house as I liked going over there! As a general rule I would advise my clients to put away personal articles and keep the house tidy as well as keeping yard landscaped and organized. It's understood that you live there but at the same time it shouldn't look like a pig pen. First impressions do count. One of the first things I'd recommend be removed were refrigerator magnets and pictures. You wouldn't believe at how offended some women got over that suggestion! Many people often have too many pictures on the wall. For end tables and night stands you recommended they follow the "rule of 3" which was 3 different sized accessories and that's it. No more and preferably no less. For some reason it is just pleasing to the eye. I found that many sellers found this step quite fun as it gave them a little chance to play interior decorator.
Saying all of this, I only mentioned it as a suggestion and never forced anyone to actually follow through with it if they didn't want to. I also showed a list of things that could effect the sale of the house and to most people's surprise there are more things that THEY have control over that can affect the sale of their house than the agent has control over and I made sure they were well aware what those things were. If the house didn't sell, we'd go back over the list to see what needed to be improved. Feedback from potential buyers also was very helpful.
As far as a large layout is concerned, first off if you are going to move anyways, why not just take it down? You will have to at some point anyways. Do you really want to rush to get it out of there in the 30 days or so that you are going to try to close if you get a contract? Do you want lots of people coming through playing with your stuff? Would you be happy with unattended children running loose in there? Keep in mind this almost certainly will happen at some point. Parents are looking at the house, not watching their children. If your room has some outstanding feature to it, do you really want it hidden behind your mountain? You may have a layout that is worth everything to you that you are really proud of. A potential buyer will probably see it as this really neat looking thing that needs to get torn down somehow and they won't see it as something adding to the value of the house. Their perception of the room may also be thrown off by it's presence. It really depends how large it is. If this is a 4 x8 layout, it probably won't matter. If it takes up the entire room floor to ceiling, it probably will.
I did foreclosures for a while. Many of those houses were in bad physical shape but were structurally sound. Many of them were fine but were just very dirty. Although I'd advise people to look past the dirt to see it's true potential, the fact is that many people just can't. Many can. However if your house is already showing off it's true potential, and by that I don't mean how large of a layout can you get into it, then you have opened up more potential to get a sale. This goes back to the list I'd get together ahead of time. If it wasn't followed and the house didn't sell, I didn't want blame coming back on me when it may have been due to something the seller didn't do. It happens.
Now keep in mind that I would never force anyone to do anything they didn't want to. I made them aware of potential issues and made suggestions but that was it. I never insulted their interests or looked down on them. That was where that agent messed up but to suggest that it may be better to remove it was not bad advice. What is worth lots to you is meaningless to someone else and remember that not everyone can see past it. While you may not think that's an issue, it may cost you a buyer which may lead to you leaving the house on the market longer and getting less for it later. You never know. The agent doesn't have sole control over the sale of your house. You have lots of it too and are just as responsible if it doesn't sell and in fact are almost always going to be the main party at fault if it doesn't.
To echo what was stated earlier, if Allen McCelland couldn't sell the V&O, one of the nations premere layouts, and throw the house in, chances we mere mortals will have a tough time selling our model railroad empire. Plus the V&O was in the basement. Lets face it, most basements are just crap-catchers anyway! We moved to western Colorado a few years before the V&Os demise. I told my wife, if we were still in Ohio, we might be moving to West Carrollton instead.
MisterBeasley . Now, remembering that most Americans are not model railroaders, a layout is not a plus.
. Now, remembering that most Americans are not model railroaders, a layout is not a plus.
What a pity!! What do they do??? 8<))
Ernie C