Posted on 05/17/2016 12:12:08 PM PDT by PROCON
Not long ago, the Sears, Roebuck and Co. mail-order catalog was the ultimate marketplace, much like Amazon is today. You could even buy a house straight from the catalog. Just pick out the home you like, and voila, Sears would deliver it just for you. (The best Amazon can do is either a DVD box set or houses that, uh, would have some size and space issues for most people.)
These Sears homes weren't cheap low-end houses. Many of them were built using the finest quality building materials available during that time. It's not uncommon to find Sears homes today with oak floors, cypress siding, and cedar shingles. As with most old homes, the tough part is finding one that has been well maintained, and with the youngest of Sears homes going now eight decades old, they all require a significant amount of care. From 1908 to 1940, Sears sold between 70,000 to 75,000 homes, so there are plenty out there, you just need to know where to look.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
My parents live in one. Built in 1911. It’s yuuuuuge.
Online sales have exceeded retail sales at a number of well-known retailers already.
That brick home is very nice. Probably go for over $500,000 in a major market and $250,000+ in a average suburb
Same here, one of my best friends lives in one outside of Sumter, SC.
Pecky Cypress paneling was de riguer in Deep Dixie in my youth
Is that a real Sears home?
We own 2 acres on the big island, Hawaii. At one time was going to build on it and retire there. Kit homes are huge in the area and I looked at a ton of them. Now by the time they’re finished there as much as a regular built home. Sad.
Some real nice homes. I built a kit house in CT 18 years ago. Took us two years but it was worth it. Had 50% equity one year after we got the C of O.
That was the sound of your post going over my head.
Another article said - “Between 1908-1940, Sears sold 110,000 homes in about 370 different styles.”
Probably, Sears made some very nice homes back in the day.
Sears is the worst managed retail company I’ve ever set foot in.
They will soon crumble up and die as they fail to deliver on any reasonable expectation of service.
We live in one.....in Los Angeles. A American Foursquare built in 1917.
That looks like one of those old house designs with oversized porches that could be reclaimed for extra bedrooms as needed.
As the family grew...the porch got smaller :-)
Yup, nowadays most new flooring is “look alike” laminate.
But who will replace my old Craftsman tools for free as they wear out!?
lol
I remember my dad riding the trains as postal clerk. He carried a pistol. I thought that was cool.
Then he spent a few years sorting mail in a bus-like truck. It was akin to the rail cars, but on a bus platform.
Probably remodeled several times?
There’s one of those in Gentry AR? Or somewhere around that area. It was for sale and cousin and I went to look at it a couple of years ago.
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