I will readily admit that I am trailer-raised, on a farm, in Caroline County. A double-wide to be precise, with three bedrooms, two baths, a den, a living room, a dining room, eat-in kitchen, and a porch. Not a bad set up until you see the triple-wides with jacuzzis and such.
But alas, a trailer is a trailer, and they all look the same. Drive by any trailer park and you see the same rusted out boxes we all see. Single wide, double wide, it’s still a trailer, right?
Some of these trailers are downright huge. And given the fact that affordable housing is such a terrible problem in high-density and high-growth localities, some people might assume that trailer parks are low-class and definitely not an option for them.
Guess again… for $60,000 you can get something pretty darned classy:
It may be a mobile home, but the Glassic Soho won’t be mistaken for any of the single-wides dotting trailer parks across the US. Developed by San Francisco architect and furniture designer Christopher Deam, it’s a sleek, modern alternative living space. At just north of $59,000 for the fully furnished house (wheels included), the Glassic costs at least $10,000 more than a typical trailer. But its target market — think Eames-loving design sophisticates — seems shocked by how cheap the 400-square-foot abode is. “We’re attracting a customer who says, ‘We wouldn’t buy anything else you sell, but we love this,'” explains Denise Walsh, a sales rep at Breckenridge, which manufactures the Glassic.
Think it’s an exaggeration? Check out some of these homes and tell me that straight out of college, you wouldn’t consider one of these?
Maybe the solution to affordable housing isn’t in the housing, it’s in the “affordable” part of the equation? With excellent designs like these and a creative developer, who knows?