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What to do with a big collection


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I've got a passion for collecting game stuff. Having gone the store route and not doing very well, I've been considering renting a place just to house my collection. A museum would indeed be cool, as would a store, but it all comes down to my primary reason for wanting to do so. Selfish Me! I like my stuff. I can't enjoy it when it's boxed away out of a lack of space. The problem with stores is finding someone to run it, or running it yourself and having to adhere to the publics hours. I'm a very free spirit with my time. One week I'm up nights, the next, regular hours. I'm not going to move, since I have four kids and the housing market stinks, I'm going to be stuck in my current house till at least 2023 when the mortgage is up.

 

Thinking about such a place, I consider the fact that I'd want a safe location and no huge separate bills to contend with. Those bills are what make a store simply not feasible unless you succeed at making it pay for itself. So I looked for something where all the utilities were included. I've found a garage rental in a posh neighborhood 20 minutes from my home. They want $890 a month but it includes all utilities. Looking up real estate prices on the same street resulted in lots of 400K - 700K value homes. This place includes two 12 x 18 rooms and a 12 x 12 kitchen! I'm really leaning towards this as a great place to have a family outing / man cave set up and be able to just go have fun and blow off steam. Gas, Water, Central Heat/AC, Phone, Internet, Cable TV, and it's lakefront to boot... but it's a good chunk of change almost $200 a week if you factor gas to go over there twice a week. That would add 33% to my monthly bills.

 

What do you think?

 

AX

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What kind of "store route" are you speaking of? Did you open a physical location, or just run an Internet business?

 

I would absolutely start off as an internet business, at least until you get the whole cost/expense idea down. You don't want to get burned on overhead, especially when this type of business may not even need it.

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What kind of "store route" are you speaking of? Did you open a physical location, or just run an Internet business?

 

I would absolutely start off as an internet business, at least until you get the whole cost/expense idea down. You don't want to get burned on overhead, especially when this type of business may not even need it.

 

No major point to make but just sharing some ramblings. Acquaintance of mine runs a store, rents 2/3 of a plumbing place in an industrial neighbourhood, not sure what he pays since his landlord is a relative. Took him about 8 yrs to get established enough to make it a full time thing, before that it was evenings and weekends only after the day job. He does no internet business as such unless a few Craigslist and Kijiji ads count. I have thought about doing this too but the rent for commercial space is likely way beyond what I could manage. I too have so much stuff it takes over 3 rooms and 3 closets of my 3 bedroom apt, and threatens a 4th room. I agree that the main drawback is that I dont have instant availibility for something I get a hankerin to play (where is that damn Leisurevision anyway...anyone seen the Vectrex....) I am now leaning towards an internet business to start things rolling. I see other small operations come and go in the surrounding neighbourhoods unless they are handling current gaming merchandise - which I have no interest in. I hope to retire in about 7 yrs so maybe I can get established between now and then to the point where a storefront makes economic sense. Maybe move to a house in a mixed use or commercial zoned area and have some kinda operation attached to the house.

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I know what you mean. I hate having items just packed away that aren't accessible. Your solution sounds nice but it seems kind of extreme. Also, if rent is $890 per month, it's going to cost you a little more than $200 per week before you include anything for gas. Do you have other options at your current location? Maybe finishing a basement (that's what I did), adding on a room, or creating more space some other way might be similar in cost while enhancing the value of your house.

 

I know of a guy around here who has been living a real life Sims game. He started with flea market booth, moved to a low rent mall, later moved to a stand alone location and just recently moved into one of the nicer malls in the area. He must be doing fairly well since he's been able to improve his location several times.

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I suggest stop buying so much crap (wall of gamecubes comes to mind) and start selling more. Definitely easier than renting a new place

 

 

NA, that's business. I'm talking pleasure. The business aspect of my life is firm and wouldn't change. I've worked online for over a decade. My private collection in the rest of the house is what I'm talking about. My 15+ and growing collection of kiosks and such.

 

AX

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The problem with a store (online or not) is that it's work. I want my games to be fun, not work. I also want my work to be focused on work, not fun. If you have to drive to play games, will you? Won't it become a "project" just to go play? I keep a small area at home with a bunch of consoles on a shelf next to a desk as my game station and just bring a box of carts, etc home from my storage unit and focus on playing those for awhile, then I take that box back and switch it out with another box of games. One week I'll be playing Nintendo, the next Colecovision. If you really want to mix business and pleasure together, maybe you could buy a house (great time for that), rent out a couple of rooms and keep one for your game room?

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The problem with a store (online or not) is that it's work. I want my games to be fun, not work. I also want my work to be focused on work, not fun. If you have to drive to play games, will you? Won't it become a "project" just to go play? I keep a small area at home with a bunch of consoles on a shelf next to a desk as my game station and just bring a box of carts, etc home from my storage unit and focus on playing those for awhile, then I take that box back and switch it out with another box of games. One week I'll be playing Nintendo, the next Colecovision. If you really want to mix business and pleasure together, maybe you could buy a house (great time for that), rent out a couple of rooms and keep one for your game room?

 

You do grasp the concept. That was where I was at with it already. Enjoy some then put it away. With the kids, they all want to play something else all the time. I'm thinking of this like a family outing hot spot. Granted for $200+ a week you could have a ton of fun elsewhere. I really don't want it to be work. Sadly, I really have no room to add on, other than vertically on my home/property. No basement, no land, just a small yard. I'm not going to do anything rash. I've kicked around the idea of a self supporting solution and I'm not happy with having to WORK outside of what I do for a living. The progression has been a store, then storage, then back in to my home. Then thinking I'd cover the costs of having it off site again perhaps museum, then wanting a store again, then thinking a self supporting family game room for rent for an hourly fee by appointment.. but now just the idea of eating the cost. Having a place so I can just enjoy the stuff I have. Like having my own private Dave & Busters just for myself and my family to enjoy. It's been on my mind for a while. I've got to do something, and won't decide until next year. I've just got too much, and I don't have any desire to sell it off just because it's allot. It is without a doubt an addiction, habit, whatever you like to call it... and I don't think I'll quit so long as I'm still alive. That's going to take some more space. ;)

 

AX

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Anyone with a spouse who has a massive collection and kids should imo first talk with them about any idea they may have. Emergencies can come up quickly where extra money is a necessity and rental contracts are often very difficult to get out of quickly.

 

Also stopping buying things for pleasure (as opposed to work) till the current situation is straightened out and saving up a nestegg/umbrella/savings for kids future or such emergencies isn't a bad idea either so that would create more disposable income.

Depending on the kids ages talking with the oldest about having extra money and what they might enjoy isn't bad either since a big decision like that would affect them as well especially if this is long term.

If both of you are working hard at taking care of the family and home it's not fair to them if all the extra money is spent on you imo. Money in any form whether debts or extra can start a lot of ugly arguments. :ponder:

 

If you're single, with no outstanding debts and a healthy savings preferably, and only have to answer to yourself then hey, have fun.

 

Just my 1/2 of .01. :)

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Inventory is killer for the exact reason that you started this thread.

 

TNT Amusements, for example, just moved into a warehouse 60% smaller than the previous. His justification was paying way too much rent for $50 game cabinets. That's not his entire product line, however, as he sells pinball machines and some really nice restored arcade cabinets.

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The rented garage sounds nice, if you can easily swing the cost and don't mind not being able to play on a whim. Perhaps you and your family could even come up with new uses for the places in your house where it's all currently stored. That could improve everyone's daily life, perhaps well justifying the monthly rental price.

 

I can relate to your dilemma. Of course I'm not anywhere near where you are in collecting, and never was. But I did once have much, much more than I do now. I had a closet, a spare bedroom, the dining room, and a storage locker all filled with stuff. No duplicates. Nearly all bought at garage sales and flea markets. This was back in the early-to-mid 90s. It was nifty having all that stuff, but using it was a hassle. Nothing like spending a half hour getting set up and a half hour putting things away, minimum, just to play one game!

 

These days, I work very hard to keep my collection under control. I only own the games and systems that I regularly enjoy playing. (In fact, the 7800 is in danger of dropping off that list.) Everything fits neatly in one room (our spare room, which doubles as our library, plus the walk-in closet in that spare room). Everything is accessible. All game machines are always hooked up to one of the two TVs in there and a power source so that I can play any time, at the flick of a switch. All games are neatly stored in the walk-in closet so that I can go in there, browse through the games, and select one with no trouble.

 

Honestly, for me, doing it this way has greatly increased my enjoyment of my collection. Yes, it's a much smaller collection. Yes, from time to time I wish I had everything under the sun. But day-to-day, I'm much happier now. (I just have to get up the courage to get rid of the last of my miscellaneous 8-bit stuff that I have sitting in the basement. But that's a different story.)

 

I hope you, too, find a great solution for you and your family!

Edited by Ransom
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Rearrange your house. It always cracks me up, when I read about someone selling video games because "they are moving and need the space" or something like this. I'm sitting here thinking, "um, video game stuff is small and not heavy, how in the world could one not have space for massive amounts of video game stuff?"

 

What I do, I think and plan really hard before setting up where all of my gaming stuff goes. It's all about using the space you have wisely.. Just be super organized and even if you have massive amounts of gaming stuff, just strewn it throughout your house wisely and it will work out... Get rid of any large furniture that you do not use, as that stuff takes up the most space and is heavy as heck. Also, maybe most importantly... SELL ALL OF YOUR DUPLICATES!!! What in the world is the point of owning more than 1 of the exact same thing!?

 

Good luck! Save money! Don't rent a place just to store games!!!

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....I've found a garage rental in a posh neighborhood 20 minutes from my home. They want $890 a month but it includes all utilities. Looking up real estate prices on the same street resulted in lots of 400K - 700K value homes.

 

What do you think?

 

AX

 

I think that sounds like a boatload of cash. Unless you're wealthy that's a hell of a lot to invest for something like a "getaway". Believe me I can relate to the utter lack of space. My obsession entirely consumes the whole house. Unlike you though it only impacts myself. You have a family and like CB said you must take how everything effects them into account firsthand. If drastic downsizing is indeed out of the question then the only thing left is to relocate to a larger domicile. It would be more cost effective then renting a separate place and would be much more convenient. The way the economy is it's a buyers market in the real estate business.

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....I've found a garage rental in a posh neighborhood 20 minutes from my home. They want $890 a month but it includes all utilities. Looking up real estate prices on the same street resulted in lots of 400K - 700K value homes.

 

What do you think?

 

AX

 

I think that sounds like a boatload of cash. Unless you're wealthy that's a hell of a lot to invest for something like a "getaway". Believe me I can relate to the utter lack of space. My obsession entirely consumes the whole house. Unlike you though it only impacts myself. You have a family and like CB said you must take how everything effects them into account firsthand. If drastic downsizing is indeed out of the question then the only thing left is to relocate to a larger domicile. It would be more cost effective then renting a separate place and would be much more convenient. The way the economy is it's a buyers market in the real estate business.

 

I agree with this 100%. I don't see how you can even be considering blowing almost $900 per month to rent a garage/mancave/whatever somewhere, especially when you have 4 kids. If you have an extra $900 per month laying around, then stick it into the bank every month so that your kids can go to college. If you have so much stuff that you have no room left in your house, then it is time to get rid of some stuff or buy a bigger house, which you can apparently afford to do if you have that much extra dough laying around. I have gathered from some of your other posts that you have extra systems and whatnot stacked up in the hallways due to lack of room. Why not rent a storage space to store your extra sales stock, instead of keeping all of that stuff in your house and sending your personal collection elsewhere? Just rent a temperature-controlled mini-storage unit close by and keep an inventory of it on your computer. You can say what you want about lake front private Dave and Busters etc., but it sounds to me like you just want to rent some additional space somewhere to enable you to continue obsessively buying video game stuff without having to worry about where you are going to put it.

 

Chris

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it sounds to me like you just want to rent some additional space somewhere to enable you to continue obsessively buying video game stuff without having to worry about where you are going to put it.

 

Chris

 

Partly yes. However the goal is also enjoying it. Something that can't be done in storage. Maybe moving is my only good option in the long run. I've been in this house over half my life. I do have issues letting things go like my house (hording mentality I guess) but I'm not one of those dirty trash hoarder types. Clearly the thing to do is to enter the $800 a month as a bill and see how I like paying it to savings for a while. Then decide what to do after a little while. My current house payment is $700, when I had the store and it did not support itself for two years around $1200 per month came out of my pocket to keep it alive. That worked, but it was horrible. I'm fairly certain I could approve for upto a $1200/mo payment. I just don't want to move. Maybe I could get over that. Yeah, I've just been brain storming here. Thank you all for keeping me grounded. Like I said, I'm not going to do anything rash. My wife is little to no input (her choice), she just wants home to be home, and space to live, and expects me to decide how that happens, but it's "just make it so #1." She knows how much the games mean to me. She married into it knowing, and is into gaming too. She doesn't want me to give it up, and knows that it isn't possible because it is a major part of who I am. Some guys get married and the women try to change them. I'm lucky to a degree there, but then I have to show myself discipline.

 

AX

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I just got a huge lofted shed its 18 foot by 12 foot. The loft part is filled with my extra game stuff. I got it from one of those places that rents to own them with $200 down and $100 to bring it out. I pay 180 a month for 3 years. At any time thay will just come and take it if I dont need it or you can go bigger or smaller for the $100 fee and change the payments. Or you can just buy the size I got for $3500. My accontants want me to make the payments over the 3 years since its considered rent. You should also deduct from your taxes space used for business at home.

Just dont forget what ever you do get some type of alarm and insurance.

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I know what you mean. I hate having items just packed away that aren't accessible. Your solution sounds nice but it seems kind of extreme. Also, if rent is $890 per month, it's going to cost you a little more than $200 per week before you include anything for gas. Do you have other options at your current location? Maybe finishing a basement (that's what I did), adding on a room, or creating more space some other way might be similar in cost while enhancing the value of your house.

 

I know of a guy around here who has been living a real life Sims game. He started with flea market booth, moved to a low rent mall, later moved to a stand alone location and just recently moved into one of the nicer malls in the area. He must be doing fairly well since he's been able to improve his location several times.

Muzz right? I hope that new store does well.

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Yeah, the $900 storage/hangout sounds fun, but too expensive. And as someone said, are you really going to want to go over there often enough to make it worthwhile? If you're anything like me, when it's evening and I want to play a game, getting up to walk into the game room is about all the effort I'm interested in. If all my games were 15-20 mins away, I'd never end up playing any of them.

 

Renting storage for the stuff that's stock and not meant for your own playing enjoyment seems like a good way to open up space in the house, but that may still not leave enough room to have all the kiosks out handy to play... there may be no way to solve that problem other than moving to a bigger house. Yes, it may take a while to sell your current house, but if you've got the cash to consider paying more than your mortgage payment for a gamer-cave, you can definitely get into a much bigger house with interest rates the way they are and with so many people having trouble selling.

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This whole thing sounds absurd to me. Sounds like the OP even acknowledges it in a half-hearted way (self-proclaimed hoarder). I would think that when you start talking about spending that kind of $$$ on a video game safe house, no matter how much extra money you have, its time to put down the joystick and get some professional help. Sorry, thats my opinion and I hope thats ok Ax. Nothing personal because you seem like a genuinely nice guy.

Edited by AtariLeaf
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AtariLeaf's comments were a 'little' harsh - but sort of spot on! lol At the end of the day, we're talking about a bunch of plastic, some glue, metal and silicon. Sounds like you're wrestling with heavy priority type issues right now (again). Renting space to support home console gaming sounds preposterous to me and this is from a guy that has 20+ arcade/pinball machines at any given time. Difference is, I do not hoard and all (most) of my stuff gets played regularly and is nicely displayed. We're adults now with adult friends and don't sit around and play home consoles. Ever. Just my GF and I once in a while play the home stuff and we rarely have pinball "parties" and more either. Always boils down to balance I guess.

 

Strictly coming from a guy who's mostly into authentic gaming (arcade), the MAIN draw to console gaming is its humble size and vast library you can build within relatively small confines. Sounds to me like you're defeating that purpose entirely by contemplating renting out or adding on to the home. But hey... whatever makes *you* happy is the bottom line. What does the wife REALLY thing of this? I just read that she's pretty tolerant about it, but I can't say any of my wives or GF's would have ever tolerated this kind of behavior when it comes to home console gaming and frankly, I've crossed the line of obsession with this junk a few times. Very difficult to break yourself of and women often will not tell the completely truth because, as you said, she knows it makes you happy. She could secretly think your the biggest wanker in the world for all we know and is waiting for you to make the mature decision to scale down - LOL! Balance and diversity man (and no... having every single game or console does not count as being "diverse" lol). I say sell or put away the stuff you don't regularly use. For me, even if it's not out on display, it's just nice knowing that "it's there". Okay to have ONE extra system as a backup - but never dupes of games. This stuff will always be around to purchase later if you wish and as you mature, I bet you're going to care and less and less about this level of materialism anyway.

Edited by save2600
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