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

[OnTheBranchline]

Yes it has a Land Rover in it but.........

IMG_0478.JPG

 

Looks like something out of Scrapheap Challenge

[OnTheBranchline]

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.

 

We are discovering that, we viewed two houses today that were almost standing room only with other potential buyers (mostly young couples like us), and it wasn't even that big of a house.

[royaloak]

Our house was a repossession and they had gone to town on the inside when they moved out, it had those steel windows and doors as the original ones had been 'modified' and it was such a mess on the inside the estate agents wouldnt even go inside it, but it was all we could afford and we were lucky enough to secure it, 6 months later and it was (sort of) liveable but it enabled us to get on the property ladder and after a few more years it was as good as it was going to get so we sold it and used the proceeds for the deposit for the current house, and after (nearly) 3 years the house is nearly done, all the big jobs have been done roofs, floors, doors, windows (the usual small jobs) so I have finally got permission to start on the baseboards.

 

When looking at a house (especially your first one) you have to look past the decor into the fabric of the building and make sure that lovely fresh wallpaper isnt hiding decrepit walls, take a (cheap) damp meter and check the walls, fresh wallpaper can hide all sorts of damage.

[hayfield]

Our house was a repossession and they had gone to town on the inside when they moved out, it had those steel windows and doors as the original ones had been 'modified' and it was such a mess on the inside the estate agents wouldnt even go inside it, but it was all we could afford and we were lucky enough to secure it, 6 months later and it was (sort of) liveable but it enabled us to get on the property ladder and after a few more years it was as good as it was going to get so we sold it and used the proceeds for the deposit for the current house, and after (nearly) 3 years the house is nearly done, all the big jobs have been done roofs, floors, doors, windows (the usual small jobs) so I have finally got permission to start on the baseboards.

 

When looking at a house (especially your first one) you have to look past the decor into the fabric of the building and make sure that lovely fresh wallpaper isnt hiding decrepit walls, take a (cheap) damp meter and check the walls, fresh wallpaper can hide all sorts of damage.

 

Back in the 70's this is what we all had to do, no chance of getting a council house, unless you were living with family and had a few children. Private landlords were selling off their housing stock owing to onus new rules to improving living standards on fixed rents. Thankfully one car (old bangers) families, no credit cards, mobile phones etc. Just scraped up enough for a deposit and everyone helped out doing the houses up. Those wrecks on houses under the hammer were what we bought, the only things we could afford

 

Now the youngsters want new properties, have new cars on lease,sky tv, and all the mod cons. Certainly for those in city centres housing is affordable, but I sometimes think priorities may be in the wrong order. Or is it that I am just old !!  

[OnTheBranchline]

Back in the 70's this is what we all had to do, no chance of getting a council house, unless you were living with family and had a few children. Private landlords were selling off their housing stock owing to onus new rules to improving living standards on fixed rents. Thankfully one car (old bangers) families, no credit cards, mobile phones etc. Just scraped up enough for a deposit and everyone helped out doing the houses up. Those wrecks on houses under the hammer were what we bought, the only things we could afford

 

Now the youngsters want new properties, have new cars on lease,sky tv, and all the mod cons. Certainly for those in city centres housing is affordable, but I sometimes think priorities may be in the wrong order. Or is it that I am just old !!  

 

If in doubt, blame the younger generation and say how it was better back then.

[royaloak]

Back in the 70's this is what we all had to do, no chance of getting a council house, unless you were living with family and had a few children. Private landlords were selling off their housing stock owing to onus new rules to improving living standards on fixed rents. Thankfully one car (old bangers) families, no credit cards, mobile phones etc. Just scraped up enough for a deposit and everyone helped out doing the houses up. Those wrecks on houses under the hammer were what we bought, the only things we could afford

 

Now the youngsters want new properties, have new cars on lease,sky tv, and all the mod cons. Certainly for those in city centres housing is affordable, but I sometimes think priorities may be in the wrong order. Or is it that I am just old !!  

Yes I think you are right but only up to a point.

 

When you bought your first house how did the house price, deposit and mortgage payments compare to your wages?

 

Nowadays the figures simply dont stack up unless you are in a very well paid job indeed, could the kidzz do more to get on the housing ladder?

Yes of course they could, but is it realistic and viable when they see house prices climbing faster than they can save the deposit and as for them securing a mortgage?

 

I would not like to starting out on that road today!

[peach james]

Yes I think you are right but only up to a point.

 

When you bought your first house how did the house price, deposit and mortgage payments compare to your wages?

 

Nowadays the figures simply dont stack up unless you are in a very well paid job indeed, could the kidzz do more to get on the housing ladder?

Yes of course they could, but is it realistic and viable when they see house prices climbing faster than they can save the deposit and as for them securing a mortgage?

 

I would not like to starting out on that road today!

 

But one very serious issue is that the "kids" now won't settle for 600 sq ft, with 1 parking spot & at an inconvenient place...they want 2000 sq ft, with built in dishwasher, and stainless steel appliances, somewhere that is "hip".  Because they don't see themselves being able to do the work on the 40 year old house (like re roofing it with their mates), and they don't see themselves moving in 5 years to something with 2 actual bedrooms rather than a 10x12 master bedroom, and a 8x10 kids bedroom...they want it all and they want it now.  Costs to build have sky rocketed, at least here with a lot of the costs being driven by daft regulations.  (OK, I can see that some insulation is needed- but when the cost of the mandatory "upgrade" would  NEVER be paid off at an economic rate of return, we'd be better focusing that effort elsewhere...).  

 

Still, I am unsure what the eventual solutions are for the problems.  Glad I bought "way" back in 2001 !, as my house has a bit more than doubled in "value" (but the wages that I was making then would NOT have doubled...).  No idea what my kids will do in 10 years when it comes time for them to go out the door...

 

James

[hayfield]

If in doubt, blame the younger generation and say how it was better back then.

 

Hold on, there are a lot of younger generation buying houses, admittedly far fewer having the skills for basic DIY, which I believe is the fault of the academics ruining  running the education system. But over the past 30 years I have noticed priorities and attitudes change. We stayed living with our parents for 18 whilst we saved hard for both a deposit and a few £'s for s/h furnature

Yes I think you are right but only up to a point.

 

When you bought your first house how did the house price, deposit and mortgage payments compare to your wages?

 

Nowadays the figures simply dont stack up unless you are in a very well paid job indeed, could the kidzz do more to get on the housing ladder?

Yes of course they could, but is it realistic and viable when they see house prices climbing faster than they can save the deposit and as for them securing a mortgage?

 

I would not like to starting out on that road today!

 

We bought a flat (house conversion) in the worst part of town which needed renovating. It was the maximum our wages could afford, we had to save for the deposit and there was a mortgage famine so had to use a broker to find a branch which had funds. The flat needed renovating, as a group of friends we all helped each other, that was how it was done. To buy our terraced house we had to buy a house which needed renovating, it was just about mortgageable. 

 

I accept there are areas where youngsters cannot afford to buy, (as I said we had to move out of the village and into the worst part of town) especially in the South east and city centres. Also at the moment its the buy to let market keeping the prices up. It was also extremely hard at times with a young family paying the bills and buying a house. Those I knew who were in social housing had better possessions, went out more and had better cars and holidays. We like many others who have bought their own homes, have had it very hard at times and never had as much state help in bringing up our families (which has the effect of increasing house prices)

 

Having said all of this looking at both my grand children and nephews and nieces (half buying and half renting) Half the issues in buying houses has been due to the financial commitments they have made prior to buying/renting. I accept things move on, but really things are still much the same, my grand parents were aghast at what we had to borrow to get a roof over our heads. In the end its whats the most important to you.

[jamie92208]

Things can work out better than you think. For years my wife had been hankering to move abroad and finally just over 2 years ago I gave in and we decided to move to France, primarily for the better weather which benefits her health. Ove the course of the next week or so we came up with a spec for a house that would suit us both and provide a reasonable quality of life. The spec worked out as :-

a) a relatively new house that didn't need a lot of work on it. (We both became OAP's this year)

b) Three bedrooms so that the family and friends can come and stay.

c) A big enough garden to accommodate

1) a shed big enough to house my layout tand allow room around it. the layout is 12m by 6m.

2) a circular swimming pool 6m diameter for her.

By pure chance we dropped on a house for sale that fitted this exactly. The bonus was that the shed already existed. I kept my side of the bargain by buying and installing the swimming pool the first summer we went out there.

This is the shed

A former joinery manufacturing workshop.

The layout is now in it and we move out there permanently in June.

And all because I took a wrong turn driving back to the Gite we were staying in one morning.

 

Everything else about the spec has worked out. We've decorated 3 rooms to remove the smell of nicotine and the only work we are looking at doing to the house is a small en suite to the bedroom we use downstairs.

 

Jamie

[tomparryharry]

Mrs Smith wants the garage for her motorbike.

 

So, I'm getting the garden shed, which is also fine.

 

However, the shed size is 30'x 10'

 

The door is locked both sides, otherwise other 'stuff' will get dumped there. My reasoning is that I've worked bl**dy hard for the last 40-odd years, now it's 'my' time. The foot is very politely, but firmly, applied.

 

And, my construction job is happening this summer.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[Killybegs]

When we built our house here in Donegal, we incorporated a sewing room and a train room, so both parties were happy. At the time, building costs were much lower in NW Ireland than they were in the UK!

[OnTheBranchline]

Update to everyone, 

 

My fiancee and I bought a house two weeks ago. It's a cute house (3 bed, 3 bath) in a tiny hamlet (500 people) 20 minutes driving distance outside of the town where we both work. There were 10 bids (including ours) on this house. We didn't think we would get it (there were about 100 people who walked through the house at the showing). But we did! We weren't the highest bidder (we offered 20K pounds over asking price) but what won it for us was that we had no buying conditions since we were a young couple with a flexible closing date. We bought at the top of our price range so money will be tight but as long as we watch our money carefully we should be okay. Buying a bigger house now means that we won't outgrow it any time soon. 

 

Now, to the trains:

There is space for a layout somewhere in the house, probably in the basement. There's no garden shed or anything on the property. It's just a question of how big and what form it will be. The future SWIMBO has politely indicated that it is preferable that no holes be put through any walls in order to extend the layout. But I'm sure that that is negotiable     

[Ian Smeeton]

Remeber, that the difference between a woman and a terrorist, is that you CAN negotiate with a terrorist!

 

Best of luck with the purchase.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[royaloak]

Update to everyone, 

 

My fiancee and I bought a house two weeks ago. It's a cute house (3 bed, 3 bath) in a tiny hamlet (500 people) 20 minutes driving distance outside of the town where we both work. There were 10 bids (including ours) on this house. We didn't think we would get it (there were about 100 people who walked through the house at the showing). But we did! We weren't the highest bidder (we offered 20K pounds over asking price) but what won it for us was that we had no buying conditions since we were a young couple with a flexible closing date. We bought at the top of our price range so money will be tight but as long as we watch our money carefully we should be okay. Buying a bigger house now means that we won't outgrow it any time soon. 

 

Now, to the trains:

There is space for a layout somewhere in the house, probably in the basement. There's no garden shed or anything on the property. It's just a question of how big and what form it will be. The future SWIMBO has politely indicated that it is preferable that no holes be put through any walls in order to extend the layout. But I'm sure that that is negotiable     

Excellent news, well done, I hope you fixed your mortgage for a few years so you dont get into financial trouble when interest rates rise.

[polybear]

The future SWIMBO has politely indicated that it is preferable that no holes be put through any walls in order to extend the layout.

 

Pretty unreasonable if you ask me....

 

Remember, arguing with a woman is just like reading a software licence agreement.  In the end you give up and just tick the "I agree" box.....

[hayfield]

Great news about the house, and its not always the highest bidder that wins. As you have said you are in a position to buy and complete the sale, vitally important if the sellers are in a chain.

 

As for the layout, the cellar is idea providing its damp free. I would start small and get something running, Perhaps something that can grow in stages, more often than not the best layouts have developed over the years 

[The Stationmaster]

Update to everyone, 

 

My fiancee and I bought a house two weeks ago. It's a cute house (3 bed, 3 bath) in a tiny hamlet (500 people) 20 minutes driving distance outside of the town where we both work. There were 10 bids (including ours) on this house. We didn't think we would get it (there were about 100 people who walked through the house at the showing). But we did! We weren't the highest bidder (we offered 20K pounds over asking price) but what won it for us was that we had no buying conditions since we were a young couple with a flexible closing date. We bought at the top of our price range so money will be tight but as long as we watch our money carefully we should be okay. Buying a bigger house now means that we won't outgrow it any time soon. 

 

Now, to the trains:

There is space for a layout somewhere in the house, probably in the basement. There's no garden shed or anything on the property. It's just a question of how big and what form it will be. The future SWIMBO has politely indicated that it is preferable that no holes be put through any walls in order to extend the layout. But I'm sure that that is negotiable     

 

Just remember all you need to do is tell her that your layout will include a nice GWR large prairie in green livery lettered 'British Railways'

[OnTheBranchline]

Great news about the house, and its not always the highest bidder that wins. As you have said you are in a position to buy and complete the sale, vitally important if the sellers are in a chain.

 

As for the layout, the cellar is idea providing its damp free. I would start small and get something running, Perhaps something that can grow in stages, more often than not the best layouts have developed over the years 

 

I hope it's something more than a little end to end plank/shunting layout because I have quite a few large 4-6-0s with coaches which are chomping at the bit waiting to get out of their boxes.

 

Here are some of the dimensions of possibly suitable rooms:

Basement/Cellar

Bedroom: 13'1 x 11'1

Den: 10'9 x 13'2 - will likely become a home office

Family: 17'7 x 33'6 (this would not all be for me, probably more than half would be a 'tele/kids play' area with couches/chairs

 

One idea is converting the basement/cellar bedbroom into a 'hobby' room (the future Mrs does crafts/scrapbooking/etc and has supplies to go along with that).

 

Just remember all you need to do is tell her that your layout will include a nice GWR large prairie in green livery lettered 'British Railways'

 

Sold! The model footplate crew should be one tall and one small man, one with a multicoloured brolly and a look of wisdom about him.

[ColinK]

One of my relatives has his model railway in the living room. His wife has her craft stuff in the living room too. They are happy as they can be together doing their hobbies.

[Jeff Smith]

A crucial early decision is whether your layout will out and back or round and round. If the latter what minimum radius you could tolerate? If you want to get something running quickly there is a lot to be said for minimum depth (less than 12") shelf layouts which can be wall mounted at shoulder height; great for viewing and does not intrude too much into the room. Track could be laid and wired quickly with scenics to follow when not playing trains.....

[Metr0Land]

 

 

One idea is converting the basement/cellar bedbroom into a 'hobby' room (the future Mrs does crafts/scrapbooking/etc and has supplies to go along with that).

 

 

Great choice in having a Mrs that does crafting.  All crafters (especially quilters) have their 'stash'.  It's their equivalent of our bits box and they have far more than they can ever use - just like us having 6 times as much rolling stock as we can ever run at once. 

[Colin_McLeod]

One of my relatives has his model railway in the living room. His wife has her craft stuff in the living room too. They are happy as they can be together doing their hobbies.

When I was four years years old my Father set up a Hornby Dublo layout on the table in the living room as a permanent feature. After about three years he then set it on an 8ft x 5ft baseboard where it stayed for another ten years. My Mother did not mind it in the living room at all as it gave the whole family enjoyment. However she did draw the line and the proposal to move the sideboard out from the wall to make room for sidings behind it did not get planning permission.

 

The layout was later dismantled and model railways moved up to the loft where there was much more space.

[jamie92208]

In the first house that I remember my father built a Hornby tinplate layout that was mounted on the dining room wall and folded down so that my brother (8 at the time) and me (4 then) could play with it. There was a semicircle of track on three boards that completed the circuit with two boxes that supported the joints.  The boxes were kitted out with shelves that acted as stock boxes with wood strip the width of the back to back on the stock.   Though we moved when I was 5 and the layout was dismantled the boxes lasted years round the house. One of them housed shoe brushes and polish till my parents had to go into a home.

 

Jamie

Edited March 8, 2018 by jamie92208

[tomparryharry]

Things can work out better than you think. For years my wife had been hankering to move abroad and finally just over 2 years ago I gave in and we decided to move to France, primarily for the better weather which benefits her health. Ove the course of the next week or so we came up with a spec for a house that would suit us both and provide a reasonable quality of life. The spec worked out as :-

a) a relatively new house that didn't need a lot of work on it. (We both became OAP's this year)

b) Three bedrooms so that the family and friends can come and stay.

c) A big enough garden to accommodate

1) a shed big enough to house my layout tand allow room around it. the layout is 12m by 6m.

2) a circular swimming pool 6m diameter for her.

By pure chance we dropped on a house for sale that fitted this exactly. The bonus was that the shed already existed. I kept my side of the bargain by buying and installing the swimming pool the first summer we went out there.

This is the shed

shed 1.jpg

A former joinery manufacturing workshop.

The layout is now in it and we move out there permanently in June.

OI000017.jpg

And all because I took a wrong turn driving back to the Gite we were staying in one morning.

 

Everything else about the spec has worked out. We've decorated 3 rooms to remove the smell of nicotine and the only work we are looking at doing to the house is a small en suite to the bedroom we use downstairs.

 

Jamie

 

I do like that. That's what I call a 'layout sized layout'.

 

Happy modelling,

 

Ian.

[The Stationmaster]

Yes I think you are right but only up to a point.

 

When you bought your first house how did the house price, deposit and mortgage payments compare to your wages?

 

Nowadays the figures simply dont stack up unless you are in a very well paid job indeed, could the kidzz do more to get on the housing ladder?

Yes of course they could, but is it realistic and viable when they see house prices climbing faster than they can save the deposit and as for them securing a mortgage?

 

I would not like to starting out on that road today!

 

In some parts of the country it has long been the case that prices climb faster than you can save for a deposit, especially in times (like now) when money is cheap to borrow.   True the differentials between income and house prices are often far worse today than they were 30 or 40 years ago but things weren't necessarily easy back then and we started with one chair, a third-hand three piece suite, a dining table and chairs I had bought years earlier and kept stored, and a bed I bought in a junk shop and repainted. The only things we had new when we moved from rented accommodation to our own house were a fridge and cooker and a rented tv set.  My father and I rebuilt and re-plumbed the kitchen plus we gradually redecorated the whole house.