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Imagine ordering this house in the mail
(lemmy.world)
I was skeptical, but it's real.
1921 was $6,488 for a 4 bedroom house, 3,000 square foot. That's $116,518 today.
At 104 years old one of those houses sell for 4 times that now.
https://www.syracuse.com/news/2011/05/syracuse_house_which_came_from.html
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1500-James-St-Syracuse-NY-13203/31660688_zpid/
I know it’s still cheaper but don’t forget to factor in labor cost to build it. That being said it would be interesting to see what the differential is.
Also don't forget the land itself! That can be a huge cost depending on where the house is.
It's 104 years old. It should be near needing to be demolished.
Tell me you’re from the US without telling me you’re from the US. In Europe a 100 year old house isn’t uncommon and isn’t even close to needing to be demolished.
You're not wrong, but the houses you're referencing probably weren't prefab.
Yeah, 60-80 years is average for the survival of a wooden framed house if it is taken care of. Yes some will last till 200, but for every 1 that does, hundreds have been torn down.
If it’s poorly made… there are houses in Europe that have been continuously owned longer than the USA has existed.
Figure $250-$350 /sf current building costs, depending on finishes. So better part of a million.
Nice, even then the price would fluctuate
I know they have these, there's a house in my old neighborhood that was a sears mail order house, but its a modest sized ranch. Not a 10 room colonial.
Its not quite "getting it in the mail", but getting a complete house plan and kit of materials is still around today. You pay one price and have it delivered to your piece of land:
source
(if prices aren't showing up for you select a store in the upper left corner of the screen, I just picked a random store for these screenshots to get the prices to populate)
Save more money at Menards. Don’t forget to mail in those 11% rebates
🤮
My family home started off as a catalog house (not sears). My dad built it when I was 2. They, now I, have continued to change and add on to it over 45 years.
That's so cool. I bet you feel a real connection to that house.
Keep in mind that such a house was very affordable, too.
And those houses now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars because bullshit.
We went from Sears to IKEA.
Do you think marriages were ruined by assembling a Sears house too? 😉
Do people really have that much trouble assembling IKEA furniture?
I believe so.
IKEA is one thing. It’s the not ikea kits that suck!
Some people do.
If it ruins their marriage then they clearly aren't able to work together to overcome adversity.
IKEA Släkt: contains several tons of particle board, ~2.5k wooden pegs, 500 pages of pictured, wordless instructions, and one allen wrench.
They still do this. It's actually a great way to save money.
this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2025
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