Buying a House, The Railway Room, and How to Negotiate with SWIMBO?

[OnTheBranchline]

My future SWIMBO and I will be looking to buy a house in the next year or so.

 

How were you able to negotiate your railway room space? I assume I'll have to make do with whatever I am given. I don't think she realizes the size of the space that I want in my head. But we'll have to see what size of house we end up with first.

[royaloak]

In our first house I had the smallest 'bedroom' (more of a box room) and alI could fit in the room was a 6ft by 6in plank and by carefully arranging the models on it she was soon convinced it wasnt big enough for me to do anything useful layout wise, so when we moved it was agreed that a proper layout room was well up the agenda, on our current house there was an annex on the back (13ft by 15ft) which the previous owner used to keep rabbits so that has been converted into the model room, there isnt much headroom (about 6ft 6in) but I can cope with that especially as it gets no direct sunlight except in the summer evening so the temperature is very stable.

 

You have to play the long game, there is no way, with all the other requirements, you will get much space in your first home unless you are really lucky or very rich.

 

Good luck with it all, buying a house is one of the most stressful things you can do.

Edited December 5, 2017 by royaloak

[chrisf]

At the risk of appearing flippant, you want space in the house rather than in your head. 

 

When I bought my house I was out of the hobby and had no SWMBO [still don't] and for various reasons where I live is all I could get at the time.  It is stressful but worth it in the end.  Good luck!

 

Chris

[Dan Griffin]

Dont forget theres always the garage. My first house, agreed i was extremly lucky, had a large garage and so i had 17ft by 8ft to build in. And theres always the loft.

[37114]

My approach was to find a house with 3 bedrooms when we needed 4. We then did a house extension designed by my dad and I. The garage is rather large but was sold to my wife on the basis that the bedroom above is the master bedroom, meaning our daughter could have our old room. The upside is the garage is now my man cave full of old land rover and layout.

 

I think the trick is to ensure you understand your wife's wants and then weave them in to a win-win situation...

[45568]

I do believe OTB that you reside in Canada?  That said, I had thought that many Canadian houses, like their U.S. counterparts, had large basements for the furnace etc.

 If that is so, perhaps you would be better to look at the basement as the 'attic' and possible home for your railway empire?

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

[F-UnitMad]

I think the trick is to ensure you understand your wife's wants...

... and good luck with that, however long you're married!!!

[Enterprisingwestern]

Who wears the trousers?, you don't negotiate, you tell!

 

Mike.

[chris p bacon]

Who wears the trousers?, you don't negotiate, you tell!

 

Mike.

 

How is life, now you're single ?

[Enterprisingwestern]

How is life, now you're single ?

 

Brilliant, and in the sun too thanks!

 

Mike.

[chris p bacon]

Brilliant, and in the sun too thanks!

 

Mike.

 

Now I'm envious. 

 

 

My room came about as there is a piece of land at the side of the house that was overlooked by trees and North facing so was as dry as a bone and unable to grow anything. I initially thought about moving the garage there but the driveway was an issue and couldn't be moved. So instead I asked Lady bacon if she'd like a 12'x12' walk in wardrobe, she jumped at the chance so I explained the only way was to build a 28' x 12' room underneath and put the wardrobe in the attic trusses. She did question what she could do with the room ....eeerrr...... you're not doing anything dear....

[Zomboid]

I suppose I'm quite fortunate in that I don't have any desire to build anything big, so I was able to say that I needed a shelf of something like 2m length on which I could build something. As it happened I've got the top of a chest-height set of IKEA shelves which gives me enough space to set up my 2m x 45cm module.

 

In looking for what to try and negotiate, I'd suggest asking yourself 3 things - what will you be able to fund once you're in this house? How much time will you be able to dedicate to your layout? Will you be able to get anywhere near completion before you move on? No point getting space for a huge basement empire if you've got $1.50 and 45 minutes a month to spend on it, and expect to be moving on in 3 years. Once you know what you can realistically build, you can think about the space you need for it.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Zomboid

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...I don't think she realizes the size of the space that I want in my head...

 Let's clear that one up. She knows everything. In fact she knows you better than you know yourself. But that doesn't reduce the need to let her know, which also covers the possibility that she is one of the rare specimens who doesn't know...

 

...the trick is to ensure you understand your wife's wants and then weave them in to a win-win situation...

 Remembering at all times that it is a woman's privilege to change her mind. They really do.

[chris p bacon]

 Let's clear that one up. She knows everything. In fact she knows you better than you know yourself. But that doesn't reduce the need to let her know, which also covers the possibility that she is one of the rare specimens who doesn't know...

 

 Remembering at all times that it is a woman's privilege Perogative to change her your mind. They really do.

 

There you go, just some further clarification.

[The Stationmaster]

The most important thing - as others have said - is to take due notice of what she wants (and comply with it if you value your life).  Hence at our previous house I eventually got a shed - because it was on a slope I had to put over a ton of concrete into the foundations, build a curtain wall of concrete blocks and then install floor joists (while meanwhile trying to run a 1:1 scale railway which generally involved 11 hours a day away from home so getting there took some time).  In the meanwhile my father and I had rebuilt the kitchen/former larder and some years after that we could finally afford to extend the house - but i still had to go outside.

 

When we planned this house I had several targets for 'railway room space' - a cellar (basement) area fell by the wayside due to budgetary constraints, an attic (loft) area fell by the wayside due to planning constraints (I had to lower the roofline to get Planning Perrmission), which left only one option - a double garage which only happens to be laid out take one car but has the other half fully insulated and with numerous power points etc.  But there then came a requirement for me to build various garden features (some of which are still slightly outstanding), however I do have a room 17ftx9ft6" which is mine, er mostly mine.

 

So lessons to learn :-

 

1.  Make sure first and foremost the house has what she wants (e.g when I planned ours I made sure it would have a large kitchen, a utility room, a separate dining room, and an airing cupboard twice the normal size),

 

2. Keep your ambitions for space of whatever size flexible and be prepared to adapt to what might be left over once she has found what she wants. (She comes over as a sweet natured young lady so I'm sure you'll have no problems )

 

3. If achieving your railway space requires subsequent work/persuasion (e.g alter the garage) make sure that you first of all take account of her household and garden etc programme and understand that yours comes at the end of the priority list, whatever she might say.

Edited December 5, 2017 by The Stationmaster

[Guius]

And gentlemen, please act responsibly, remember a shed is for life and NOT just for Christmas.

 

Guy

[LNER4479]

 Remembering at all times that it is a woman's privilege to change her mind. They really do.

Just remember:

 

'Yes' means 'No'

 

'No' means 'Yes'

 

and

 

'Maybe' means 'No!'

 

What can possibly go wrong?

[Classsix T]

Do what you like, but be prepared to buy her shoes. Lots and lots of very expensive shoes.

 

C6T.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Classsix T

[Zomboid]

"it's fine" means "you're sleeping on the sofa tonight"....

[Colin_McLeod]

We moved house in April this year. We were looking for a house that ticked a number of boxes one of which was "either a shed at least 20ft x 10ft for the layout, or space to build one". In the end we got a house with two large sheds so we got one each

[Enterprisingwestern]

Cheese anyone?

 

Mike.

[ColinK]

We had a loft conversion on our bungallow. The new ‘upstairs’ was going to be the railway room. Then I read in a book that humping layouts up and down stairs can easily result in damage to the stairs and walls (plus the layout). I mentioned this and was immediatly offered the front room downstairs for the railway. Upstairs is now a bedroom.

 

Have to say that having the railway room downstairs is great, I can nip in even for 15 minutes and do a bit of modelling, even if its just a coat of paint on something.

[Bill]

A two foot wide shelf that went around my dedicated office space at a comfortable standing height - and voila an office that rocks with a 12' by 12' layout..

Fait accompli as it required no discussion or permission to construct.. 

Sadly we moved and other layouts have never quite had the same magic -  it was the best..

Somethings can only be done once, it would seem..

Downside..

All the negative comments that arise from the presence of a model train in a house..

Upside..

A visiting nurse who simply loved it!

[Jeff Smith]

This may or may not make you envious.....we have a five bedroom house (3,800sq ft) with no basement. It was bought to assist my daughter and family move down from NY to Atlanta. We thought they might buy it from us but they wanted a bigger one so my wife and I are stuck with it for now. I currently have the smallest bedroom, about 12x14, which is my art studio and model workshop, however not big enough to house a layout as well.

 

Several years ago I got interested in On30 and built a substantial (ie heavy) 8x4 roundy layout which took up a good portion of the landing at the top of the stairs. It wasn't long for my wife to regret offering the space and by a stroke of good fortune I was able to sell it on EBay - this was also fuelled by me tiring of basically RTR and wanting to get back to loco kit construction having realized that this is really my passion. I also have a modular P4 layout, three 3' boards currently not set up. My wife has suggested me moving to one of the larger bedrooms, and I probably will having now retired and therefore having more time on my hands, but also under consideration is a move to a single floor house perhaps in Florida.

 

Anyway, if you are still reading I'll get to the crux of the subject which is different people have different requirements for 'railway space' and experience may shape future thinking. It may seem great to have a 20'x16' room but unless you are going to work full time to fill it or start a club you may become disillusioned. My first OO layout in the UK was going to go around the loft but actually only two 4' boards were finished before I moved to P4 and to the US.

 

Kit building does not require much space. A modest modular layout can be constructed in a small room and set up occasionally in a larger room or garage. If, like me, you are detail orientated, a large layout will take a long time so my advice, whatever size house you buy, is to start modestly with a couple of boards that can be worked on on a table top. This then future proofs your skills and ideas - you may change course - and your ability to take it with you when you move. So as long as your new house has more than just a cupboard under the stairs (and I've seen layouts there before) you should be able to get something going....

 

Good luck and happy modelling as Jack Kline used to say!

[jbqfc]

it was very easy with my now wife we live 300 miles apart and during the discussion on where we where going to live

she said well if you move down here to me you can have the spare room as a model room