I am moving and have to sell my 12'X18' L shaped HO layout. 75% complete. How do I determine a price
Layouts are not easily sold because of their individualistic nature. The smaller the layout, the easier it is to sell.
I assume you are not selling the locomotives or rolling stock with the layout. You can get better returns selling those separately (if you are selling them).
I assume you understand that it is highly unlikely that any buyer will attempt to continue construction of your layout.
Track that is reasonably easy to salvage, and in good condition might fetch 25% of discounted cost. The question any buyer is going to ask is how much labor is involved in moving and disassembling the layout compared to the value of the components that can be re-used. For your size layout, I would not attempt to remove it without at least another friend - and preferably 3 friends with at least 2 trucks. If the track is thoroughly ballasted down, it is actually less valuable than unballasted track because of the difficulty in reusing the track. The same is true of the lumber in the benchwork or the wire underneath.
Then the question comes as to who will do the cleanup after the demolition. Unless the layout is totally sectional, and all sections easily separate, and all sections pass through all the hallways, doorways, and stairs to the exit, some demolition with various saws is required to get 'er done in a timely fashion.
To be brutally honest, when layout owners pass on or leave the hobby, the layouts are commonly stripped of easily salvaged materials like track and structures. The rest often goes in the dumpster. Sometimes, a local club will remove the layout from the house for free in return for the ability to keep all salvageable material. That's what happened with my father's layout when health caused him to leave the hobby. And one condition of the club taking the layout was that the more valuable items like a Shinohara double slip and a diode matrix switch machine setup be left as part of the layout. Otherwise, their time and energy wasn't justified.
just my thoughts and experiences
