You can buy most houses nowadays with a $700 down payment and just pay $700-$800 a month for your mortgage. I know that my down payment 6 years ago was only $500 and my monthly mortgage payment is only $625 so it is doable.

 

Holy crap, where do you live?  As far as $700 being enough for a downpayment, even if you went with zero down, that still wouldn't even cover the out-of-pocket expenses one would have to front for closing costs (escrow fee, points to lender, recording fees, title insurance, etc.).  I live in Hawaii where the median price of a USED house is well over $600,000 and my mortgage is over $2,400 a month.

 

"Doable" is a relative term.

 

Sometimes you have to step back and reassess what your priorties in life are.  If selling your entire toy collection (a la The 40-Year-Old Virgin) will get you that much closer to being an actual homeowner, if that is in fact your goal, you should seriously consider it. 

So amny times do I ponder this very same question.  When many of my toys sit in boxes waiting to get put onto shelves that don't yet exist.  Here is the biggest dillemma people, our collections are always growing ever bigger. I used to house them all on a nice set of shelves in my room.  then I had to build more shelves.  Then I bought a house, and dedicated one room to toys(always a dream of mine)  Now, that room cannot contain all my toys, so I am renovating my basement, but how long will the basemaent house all my toys?  Then I ask myself, what the heck am I doing blowing thousands a year on this hobby?? I could be doing way better stuff.  I go through this every so often.

 

The reason I make money is so I can spend money. The reason I spend money is to amuse myself. I love the transformers, they amuse me.  I still can't figure out what to do with them all yet though.

 

I guess we'll all go through this until weve had enough, sell our collections, and blow our money on something different.

when my collection gets big enough that I have to put stuff in storage, I'll probably sell off most of it.  If I can't enjoy it, I won't do it.

 

If I lost my stuff in a fire, I wouldn't worry about my toys.  I have stuff in my house that is a lot more important.

out of sight = out of mind as far as I'm concerned. To me, storage is one step away from eBay. I mean, if you can't even see the things (much less play with them) then ...why?

 

P.S. I would recommend insuring TFs that are worth it, as with any other valuables.

 

P.P.S. Then again, if your whole collection is made up of stuff that isn't going to appreciate in value over the years (i.e. most toys), then why bother buying them at all, especially if they're not even going to see the light of day?

 

P.P.P.S. If you ever find that you enjoy finding/buying a toy more than actually owning it, you may want to rethink a bit.

P.P.P.S. If you ever find that you enjoy finding/buying a toy more than actually owning it, you may want to rethink a bit.

I always wondered if those who "enjoy the hunt" more are fulfilling some kind of ancient hunter/gatherer/caveman need buried deep in our psyche.

Quotes:  I always wondered if those who "enjoy the hunt" more are fulfilling some kind of ancient hunter/gatherer/caveman need buried deep in our psyche.

 

Heck ya.  Jump in the car, put on the tunes, take a long drive, come back victorious in finding some nice new (or old) treasure!

 

 

Quote 2:  The reason I make money is so I can spend money. The reason I spend money is to amuse myself. I love the transformers, they amuse me.  I still can't figure out what to do with them all yet though.

 

Nothing like the excitement for a short while in getting the new addition to the collection.  Boring spending all your money on the usual bills. 

 

As for what to do with them, I always invisioned taking a decent sized basement, finishing it and leaving at least one wall for shelves.  Nicest would be glass with lights built in.  I can get rather creative using all wood as well, putting plexi or glass fronts with a lock.  Possibly even a curtain to cover the whole thing up. 

 

(also in that basement room would be a decent TV, couch or recliners, multi game table, and probably a computer station and or home made server/MAME cabinet to connect the TV's TIVO and Computer together.  Hopefully a work shop as well.)

 

I figure my future wife can do just about what ever the heck she wants with the rest of the place (with in "some" reason of course).  And with the curtain it can keep the collection out of sight from those who I'd rather not mess with (IE little kids, I got extras for the kids). 

You know why I collect?  It's an escape.  It's takes me back to when I was a little kid with not a care in the world.  When I'm watching a cartoon and putting stickers on a new reissue, it's time away from my stresses.  I'm not thinking about work, bills, house repairs, or anything.  I'm getting my mind off of things and chilling out.

 

I'm kind of the jock type, and most of my friends are the same sporty "man's man" types.  Collecting toys brings me a little ridicule, but I don't care.  My wife says it best to her too-cool-for-school friends: "You know what? I don't care what he does.  When he's down the basement messing with toys, he's calm, relaxed, and happy."

 

We're all a little fanatical, and sometimes collecting doesn't make sense to others or even ourselves!  But if it makes you happy, who cares?!  It might seem ridiculous to some to have things packed away and in storage, but I can understand.  If it gives you a warm and fuzzy to know that you could go dig up your Armada Prime if you wanted to, then there's nothing wrong with that...

 

If it makes you happy, then it's not really important why you do it.

As for what to do with them, I always invisioned taking a decent sized basement, finishing it and leaving at least one wall for shelves.  Nicest would be glass with lights built in.  I can get rather creative using all wood as well, putting plexi or glass fronts with a lock.  Possibly even a curtain to cover the whole thing up. 

 

(also in that basement room would be a decent TV, couch or recliners, multi game table, and probably a computer station and or home made server/MAME cabinet to connect the TV's TIVO and Computer together.  Hopefully a work shop as well.)

 

I figure my future wife can do just about what ever the heck she wants with the rest of the place (with in "some" reason of course).  And with the curtain it can keep the collection out of sight from those who I'd rather not mess with (IE little kids, I got extras for the kids). 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

:tflaugh1

 

Sounds like my "man room" as my wife calls it.  Its a loft in our house in which I have a single leather easy chair facing a TV surrounded by bookcases and cabinets.  Our rule:  I can do whatever I want up there but if any of my crap and corruption ends up in other rooms she's free to toss it into the garbage.

A good topic indeed.

 

I collect because I love Transformers. I like the engeneering that goes into them, the cool alt modes and robot modes and the hommages.

 

I keep all on display even though my shelves are so packed one cannot see everything and a lot is gathering dust. But every once in awhile I pull out a Transformer and "play" with him.

 

It is just something I like doing. I do not smoke (in fact I really hate it, it is a filthy habit) and do not like to go to bars and such (what do you expect with all those smokers?). I do not have a relationship so that is one less problem.

 

Granted I would like to own a house but for a single persons that is impossible in The Netherlands. So a small appartment would be the best I could get. It would be all I needed anyways as one room is more than enough. It can house my tv, pc and game consoles and my bedroom for sleeping.

 

What do I need with 4 bedrooms.  :tflaugh

 

And I have to admit, I am always waiting on the next Transformers batch but that is mostly because I have to import them and I have been waiting for one particular package for a long time.

 

I am kinda sick of waiting for that and boy when it finally gets here I will be so freakin happy that I will do a silly happy dance.

I used to buy every single transformer out there, sometimes doubles and triples and I would only open up 10% of them.  When my collection got too big I put them in storage.  Thank god I have a 4 bedroom apartment.  I tried to be a completist but I realised that its impossible unless you're like really rich.  Once my collection reached 500 transformers, I too took a step back and thought to myself.  WHY.  They will never stop making them so that means I'd have to keep collecting with no end in sight. 

 

I still love transformers but I only get the ones I really one and I limit myself to 1 or 2 per month.  Also my social life has picked up and I don't have time to hunt for all the toys.

 

You seem to try to be collecting every single transformer ever made, which is super imposibble.  Thank god I hated beastwars and G2.  I think you need to rethink your priorities and go from there.