Are Sears kit homes valuable?
Most of them were priced from about $725 to $2,500, although some of the larger models like the Verona sold for more than $4,000.
How do I know if my house is a Sears kit house?
Look for stamped lumber in the basement, attic or crawlspace. Sears Modern Homes were kit homes and the framing pieces were stamped with a letter and a number. When the lumber arrived on site, that number told you how all the pieces went together.
How many Sears kit homes still exist?
Sears is estimated to have sold about 70,000 of their home building kits from 1908-1940 and it’s currently estimated that about 70% of the original Sears homes built from kits are still standing today.
What years did Sears Roebuck sell house kits?
From 1908 until 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold over 70,000 kit houses through their Modern Homes and Honor Bilt catalogs.
What was the most popular Sears home?
The Sears Crafton was possibly Sears best-selling kit home. It was offered for more than two decades in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs, and remained popular even during the Great Depression.
Did Sears sell home kits?
Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer.
Where are the most Sears houses?
Because rail was the most popular form of transportation, Sears homes can mostly be found in the Northeast and Midwest, where rail lines were more frequent. Sales were strong in the early Depression years but lagged by 1933. In 1934, Sears closed the Modern Home Department.
Why did Sears stop selling homes?
So our answer is simple: Sears stopped selling houses because of the government’s regulation of resources during WWII and the national restrictions on construction materials. After the war, Sears re-entered the housing business in 1946 when they introduced Homart Homes.
Can you still buy homes from Sears?
Sears sold more than 70,000 mail-order homes between 1908 and 1940. Some enthusiasts estimate that about 70 percent of Sears houses are still standing today. Sears Holdings Corp. Thanks to the Internet, you can buy just about anything online and have it shipped to you in a few days or less.
How did Sears kit houses work?
Buyers could request design changes as they wanted, and some even provided entire blueprints to Sears. Staff then packaged the necessary materials and shipped the loaded cartons to a buyer’s address. Once the kits arrived, buyers needed land and workers who could assemble the kits as instructed.
Why did Sears stop selling house kits?
How were Sears houses built?
To substantiate this claim, the kits contained elements like balloon framing to simplify the building process. Sears also standardized the use of asphalt shingles and drywall to drive down construction costs for buyers. The company’s simplistic home designs changed life forever.
When did Sears start selling kit homes?
Year built: Thornton points out that while Sears sold Building materials as early as in the 1895 Sears and Roebuck Company catalog, pre-cut “kit” residential homes were sold between 1908 – 1940.
How many houses did Sears Roebuck build in 1920?
One House or a Hundred. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1920. NTL FOLIO TH4819.P7S435 1920 A Plan Book of Harris Homes. Harris Brothers Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1918.
How many homes did Sears sell between 1908 and 1940?
Sears reported that more than 70,000 of these homes were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. More than 370 different home designs in a wide range of architectural styles and sizes were offered over the program’s 33-year history.
What happened to the Sears Modern Homes catalog?
Sears discontinued its Modern Homes catalog after 1940. A few years later, all sales records were destroyed during a corporate house cleaning. As only a small percentage of these homes were documented when built, finding these houses today often requires detailed research to properly identify them.