A Couple Trailers

The American dream - bad credit OK!

Prefabricated homes have come in many forms. From catalogue houses to enameled steel kits to corrugated huts to polymer-composite novelties. But by far the most successful, widespread, and enduring species of prefab houses are the so-called trailer homes. Simply-framed, rectangular boxes of corrugated aluminum, assembled in factories much like cars, loaded complete onto flatbed trailers for delivery anywhere you can pour a concrete slab. An ode to simplicity, honestly.

Somehow, despite lacking the character of old-fashioned catalogue pre-cuts, the charm of colorful steel Lustrons, and the iconography of battle-tested quonsets, the trailer house has won out. Entire towns are made up of these things, occasionally, and just about every American has, at one time or another, known somebody who dwelt within one. They are sorry, ugly boxes where dreams go to die, and they are the well-loved homes of perhaps tens of millions of us. Probably a few billion ants, too.

These two - which I'm inclined to refer to as the "Duke" and the "Empress" - are a pair like so many others. Hauled out of the factory sometime in the 70s or 80s, Duke and Empress are abodes painfully typical of American trailer parks. Duke's retained its original interior paneling and, concerningly, carpets. Empress has been lightly renovated but still smells of whatever it's always smelled of. Empress was optioned with a side deck originally and retains the sliding door, but it was rotten and left behind some time ago. Keep that door locked and your parakids should be safe.

Each trailer has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, so the lot has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Maths! Both are unfurnished beyond basic amenities. Empress is considerably larger than Duke, but both could support a small parafamily so long as they don't mind sharing a yard. No mods went into these trailers, but some advanced widget nonsense was employed on Empress' detailing. Should be easy to fix if they get weird.

At just under $20,000 for the pair, these trailers are ideal starter homes for down-on-their-luck parafolk looking for budget housing. Or somewhere to hide from the law. Or retirement-age paras more interested in a seaside view than high-brow housing. Whoever they are, they can move in today!