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It's a shame we can't bring back the old Sears kit house from the days before building codes and zoning made small, simple homes (heat, light, and plumbing to be added) but without the frills (air conditioning, dishwasher, etc.) illegal. If poor people could build their own homes, they would appreciate them more, take better care of them, and live someplace they could be proud of, and I know of several poor people who built and lived in cheap kit homes (including VERY close relatives).

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1933-1940.htm

I LOVE the Sears Homekits. Not to far from where I live there is a Sears Magnolia...a HUGE two story...grand looking facade; huge rooms; kinda smooshed into a suburban lot. It was “on” the market a few years ago, and I would have loved to take a look. About 20 years ago I would have tried to bid on it.

We also have a few MontgomeryWard homes in my neck of the woods. Like Sears, nicely planned and thought out...and was in a MW house that was virtually untouched since it was built. It had a built in Hoosier cabinets (w/flour bin and glass “keepware”). There was a tiny alcove in the living room wall (specific for those new fangled telephones) and a writing desk that folded out of the wall in the LR and and ironing board that was built into the kitchen wall. Closets were tiny.