Hidden Home

[Erby]

You'd never know it from the outside but hidden in the front half of this home is an trailer house.  The whole front half.  Saw it as soon as I climbed up in the attic.  There was that old mobile home rounded metal roof.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2017 by Erby

[Les]

pretty cool.  attics are a pain until you find something like this!

 

[Marc]

A stick-built attic atop an engineered HUD-Code home.  How'd you write that one up?

[John Kogel]

That's some skillful carpentry there.

The trailer can't support the roof, so there have to be posts or walls on foundations all around, right?

Were the buyers surprised at all? Just wondering what was disclosed to them when they made their offer.

 

[Erby]

There were posts and a foundation all around.  It was quite the surprise to the buyers and their agent.  They didn't have any idea of it until I came down out of the attic.  The metal beams and vapor barrier under the front half of the house confirmed the mobile home.

 

It wouldn't surprise met that the sellers didn't know either.  They hadn't been there that long!

 

[mjr6550]

Maybe they lived in the trailer while building the house. I can't think of any other reason for doing this. 

[John Kogel]

16 hours ago, mjr6550 said:

Maybe they lived in the trailer while building the house. I can't think of any other reason for doing this. 

That is usually how it starts. The trailer has a kitchen and bathroom, and then living space and bedrooms are added. I've inspected a couple of those, but the steel frame was clearly visible in the 'basement' in both cases. One had been touted to be a  'Modular' home, so my client walked as soon as he was enlightened. Never heard about the other one, priced as high as a standard house. I never encountered that agent again either, and so it goes.

In the good old 70's, it was pretty common to see an old school bus or truck camper with a shack attached to it, or built right around it. But real estate seemed cheap and plentiful then, and the dwellings were temporary. As were some of the residents.

Edited December 9, 2017 by John Kogel