When we listed our house a while back, one of the first things I offered to do was to remove the basement layout. It is substantial, although still small as layouts go. But, it fills one solid corner of the basement. His reply: no, not yet. If you get a serious nibble, make sure the prospective buyer understands that the layout will be removed and the walls repaired/repainted as obviously necessary.
Personally, I will salvage what I can, such as the turntable and roundhouse area since it works well, and Iāll try to recover some/all of the Peco and W/S and handlaid turnouts, and of course the woodā¦but the rest is an opportunity to start fresh with some lessons learned.
You have to remember another thing. Homes are sold to women. If they see guy stuff in a large area they want to move on. Obviously not all but a large majority of them. Youāll notice the typical guy will check out the garage, basement, including plumbing etc. As long as that space is available theyāre usually all set. Their wife is what the Realtor aims at, leaving the house so that they can visualize their stuff in the space. The man cave doesnāt fly.
I see many agents say to this or that, sometimes they are correct but never do anything major, it is better to lower the price than that usually. Many people improve their house only because it will increase the value, it almost never increases the value as much as it cost you unless you do it yourself!
I can tell you Right at this Moment as we are selling our home and Actually Had Our Real Estate Agent take the pictures today; We did 95% of the work ourselves and Staged our house from Grade A Furniture Borrowed as ours is Grade B Kid & Dog Friendly and I must say Iām even impressed. I can tell you just from our Purchase and the 10 Bids we got outbid on that Staged is easier to the eye and you see things a lot clearer even for what you may envision than if it was cluttered. (Iām exhausted from it though)
We have a double Garage with Half made into a Hobby/Train room all Insulated with Lightsā¦etcā¦Our Real Estate Agent did let us or ME know that it would show better to UnClutter which I did dismantle all except a Shelf in the Garage but no where else to put everything; House/Kid stuff & Model Railroad is packed in Totes stacked along the Wall (This is Our Hobby Room Garage though and hope people can see past that) as itās the House they will be living in.
And Yes if A Real Estate Agent said that to me; see the Door (use it) as thereās a lot more that would kiss my A to get that commission and be more constructive with the way they worded certain things.
My thought is if it was in the Basement or RecRoom and I wanted to get the best Value; Yes By All Means; dismantle and Stage the House.
To me all real estate agent are part of the oldest profession and I have less respect for them then I do for the average oh well lets keep if pg rated and let it go at that. One who is a friend of a neighbor told me that if I ever wanted to sell my house that would have to go as she pointed to my 30āx40ā shop located on the back of my property. I said who asked you for your opinion in the first place.
I have bought and sold two nice homes without the use of a Realtor up until this hacienda that was thanks to the other half sleeping up stairs but I regress. I sold my last home on my own which had a 50āx100ā basement and of course the basement had a layout isnāt that what basements were made for in the first place. I had the perfect family come look at the house when mom was up stairs admiring the wood work and the fire places and the view and all that useless stuff dad and the two boys were with me in the basement checking out the train room. Well all you could here was wow awesome isnāt this cool and the kids said yeah dad itās great He did actually ask me a house buyers question of how many amp service did it have and every time I tried to tell him one more thing about the house he would go back to the layout are you sure it comes with the house I kept getting.
Yes t does and Iāll leave it as you see it with the exception of the engines and the rolling stock. That didnāt even phase him one bit. Heck he was even impressed with my System one set up. Well unfortunately they didnāt qualify for the mortgage. I even was considering hold it for them personally but then my business sense prevailed. The person who did finally buy the house had no interest in keeping the layout and I agreed to remove it but that was it. It came down a lot faster then I had ever imagined it would have and they even tried to stick me at closing saying I left and unfinished basement when I agreed to take down the layout and put the basement back the way it was. When I opened the album showing the progres
I have never purchased a home before (well, yet), but I wouldnāt want to be shown a house that is staged. I have seen this and it looks, well, way too fake. I would rather see peopleās own furniture and possessions on shelves. To me, it gives the house a more lived in look. If there are kids currently living in the home and their rooms are a little messy, it doesnāt bother me.
I was shown a house once like this and it gave me ideas of how they made it work for them. The father showed me the garage and deeply apologized that it was messy. I thought it was pretty organized, but he told me that a real estate agent said it was a āpig styā because there was lawn mowers and an oil patch where the car was parked.
Beginning in 1986 I started buying houses that need updating - mainly kitchens and bathrooms - and after doing the work I would sell and move on. I did this 4 times until I landed in my last house where I lived for 12 years. I always used the same real estate agent and I usually followed her advice. But when I sold the last place, she told me to dismantle the basement layout as well as taking down family pictures and getting rid of what she called āclutterā because they distracted from the spaces and people needed to āvisualizeā how the spaces would be used. I did and the place sold in 5 months - fortunately just before the real estate market tanked.
The agent in your post was insensitive as well as unprofessional and I wouldnāt use her or her company. I found an agent that I could trust and after checking out her credentials, those of her agency and having a face to face meeting before we entered into any arrangement, our business relationship went on for a long time.
Good luck with your sale and hope it all works out for you.
Iād a kicked her out on the high horse she road in on. (ahem) ārodeā
Seriously, I see her point. It has come to my attention lately, that not everyone finds model railroads cool. Personally, Iād take pictures of the thing for ideas and think it was great, but I guess not all are like me. Odd.
I do however, think her gut belching response could have been a bit less. After all, like you said, itās removable and most important your house. Not hers. You could go to her house, pick out something you believe is one of her favorite thingsā¦ scream and pass out.
Well here is an old photo. I am much further along on the layout now. The only remnants of the old room are the painting over the fireplace and the oak mantel. Both will be removed when I put in the mountainside that will go in that spot. I really like the painting so it will stay as long as possible.
Here is the crew lounge at the other end of the room. Some things are just too important to trade for layout space.[(-D]
This shelving unit is next to go when it will be replaced by a waterfront scene.
Sorry I have no ābeforeā photos that arenāt in photo albums and it would take ages to find them.
The agent might have been correct in her observation, but she flunks in the tact department. Itās none of her business what you do with the house while you are living in it. It would only become her business if and when you decide to sell it and then only if you hired her as your agent.
An existing model railroad is not going to be an asset when selling a house. There is only a small percentage of the house buying public that is into model railroading and itās likely that even some of them are not going to want an existing layout. They are going to want something they can call their own. I would guess that it is a rare occasion when a house is sold with a layout as-is included. I recall reading about Allen McClelland trying to sell his original V&O layout with his home when he was getting ready to down size. This was one of the most famous model railroads in the world and still he couldnāt get a nibble. Non-model railroaders would not appreciate what he had and I doubt many model railroaders would have chosen to buy a house just to get the model railroad, even one as grand as the V&O. Iām sure it was a painful decision for him to dismantle something he had put so much into, but that was the reality of the situation.
In my case, I plan to get carried out of my house so I doubt this is a decision I will ever have to make. It will be left up to my executor to decide what to do with my layout and it will probably be an easy call for him to make.
Itās a symptom of the mentality thatās gotten us into the mess weāre in today. The real estate agent (and many of her clients) treat homes as commodity investments instead of, well, homes. To her, doing this is like putting bumper stickers all over a leased car.
From the look of the rest of the room, Iām guessing the former set-up was pretty nice. Iām guessing she saw the layout in itās incomplete form as in the picture above. That could have caused her over-the-top reaction, especially if sheās never seen a properly sceniced model railroad before. It doesnāt look like youāve done any damage to the room, and your benchwork looks to be clean and neat. The only thing I would consider would be to not show the room to your non-modeler friends until you have scenery, but I fail to see what the problem is. Iāve been in homes stacked up with all kinds of stuff, and an unfinished railroad is easily less offensive than huge piles of clothes, rooms stuffed with plastic bins filled with who-knows-what, or outright junk.
Would I want it if I were buying your house? No, but I want my own railroad, not anybody elseās. Of all the home layoutās Iāve visited, I can only think of one I would keep if I were to buy that house, and itās the wrong scale.
A friend had a similar experience with his small motor home. He uses it quite extensively, so when it went in for servicing the miles were adding up fast. On being informed he āwas ruining its resale valueā, his response was that he bought it to use and enjoy. And the dividends it was paying in pleasure was well worth the investment. The idea that it might be considered an āinvestmentā in the commercial sense was ridiculous to his mind. Money is a necessary lubricant for a decent life, but for some, like that real estate agent, it seems to be the only focus of life.
If ever I were to put my house on the market I would clean it up and de-clutter, and a model railroad would come under that category since few will want to deal with it. Clear spaces let a buyer visualize how he can use or redevelop the room. But like others, I have no intention of moving until health makes it necessary.
Looking at it from the other direction, how many of us when house hunting have skipped over a candidate because the owner had divided the basement into a number of smaller rooms and we didnāt want the hassle of tearing half of it out?
To the OP, she had no right to say anything, however, whether you like it or not, if you do ever sell, you will have to take it down so people really can see the room, if you realy want to sell.
Other people who are interested in buying houses will tear apart any house based on itās decor, clutter-ness, cramp-ness etc. THey cannot see past the stuff to the house, unless the house is totally empty. even 10 year old perfectly good recently new appliances in the kitchen will get remarks aobut being āold, outdatedā and pretty much if you aint got granite countertops and stainless steel appliances boy oh boy is your kitchen outdated!
I have watched enough home buying/selling shows on tv to know that is true. ANd since we are kinda in the market for a house, we have ocassionally gone to open houses, and been just as guilty at rating a house based on its furnishings, rather than the house itself even though we know better!
SO go and enjoy your room and dont wory about it! [;)]
My brother does work on the side for realtors. One of the jobs he does for them is ācleanoutsā. These are done on a contract basis and usually amount to several hundred dollars in cost based on the amount of 'clutter" to be removed. Occasionally I help him with these as there is usually a tight deadline. However, sometimes it is a house that has sat on the listing for a while and has not moved. When we get there we usually discover why it has not moved. Junk! Lots of it. It is amaizing how fast these houses move once we clean them out. sometimes we also have to fix any issues and give the insides a coat of paint. About 3-4 years ago he called me to come look at something he found in a basement. Knowing my brother I was unsure of what to expect. Getting there I found a basement full of a model railroad. Now before anyone gets too excited I will simply put it this way, it was junk. The widow, now in a nursing home, thought that the new owners would love it so she left it. Well, her kids did as she wished. There were no structures or rolling stock just trackwork and some less than stellar scenery. I think I salvage one Peco switch out of the whole thing before the recip saw came out. Two hours later the entire basement was broom swept clear and by the end of the day the entire house was the same way. We came back the next day and painted a couple of rooms including the basement (semi finished). I heard that two days later they had a full asking price contract on a house that had previously sat for two years with out so much as an offer
Iād love to see this ad āTrain room for sale: 30x50 layout with finished scenery and DCC. Includes 2bdr 2 bath dwelliingā¦ā
Actually I think real estate agents donāt know how to market a house with a layout so they would rather not deal with it. I do know that when I was house shopping most of the places were finished in the same manner with bland colors cheap carpet and a generally sterile appearance. How many of us have bought a house and then repainted recapeted etc? Why should the seller pay for remodeling when itās all going to get torn out anyway? The one I ended up with had been cleaned (whichis good) but not redecorated which made it stand out in my mind. Orange and yellow shag will do that.
Wish I had know the V+O was up for grabs, I may living in a different town now. But ads never mention such a critter just like my other hobby of old cars. I saw a couple places where the owner had his/her hobby removed from the house for better salability.
Or for that matter I may have bought or become caretaker of the V+O. True it wouldnāt be āmineā in the sense I built it but, I worked for it, paid for it, moved it, modified it and could easily add my own rolling stock.
As a possible solution, what about some sort of classifieds where layouts to be dismantled can be sold or given to a new home. Carefull deconstruction can keep a layout mostly intact like Dick Elwell (sp?) did.
