Sears Sold 70,000 Homes From Their Catalog. Are You Living in One?

(click to enlarge) That looks pretty nice and I think I can cover it without a mortgage!

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.

Read the rest here. 

I can remember when I was a kid (many years ago) thumbing through my grandmother's copy of the Sears Roebuck catalog (and Montgomery Wards). I am still in awe at all of the things they had in there. Someone told me once that those old catalogs are now collectibles and people are actually selling them online.