Looking for an affordable home? Meet the Under $20,000 Home on Amazon.
- Inside Combined Floor Area: 292 Sqf + the sleeping Loft (not part of the 292 Sqf)
- Wall thickness: 1-3/4″ (44 mm) – dual T&G windblock pattern
- Ridge Height: 12′ 8″ – Back wall height: 8″ – Kit weight is 7300 lbs
- Doors: Exterior (2): 62-1/8” x 76-1/8” – Interior (1): 32-1/2” x 76-1/8”
- Windows | front: 36” x 36” | back: 54-1/8″ x 36″ | left: 27-5/8″ x 46-7/8″ | right: 21-3/4″ x 68″
The Altwood Timberline 483 Square Foot Cabin is $39,900.
- Inside Floor Area: 354 Sqf + Loft 129 Sqf
- Wall thickness: 2-3/4″ (70 mm) – dual T&G pattern
- Ridge height: 14’9″
- Floor, Roof/Ceiling boards thickness: 23/32″
- Adding/deleting rooms, room size changes are available for this model
Want Still More room?
Try the Allwood Eagle Point | 1108 SQF Cabin Kit for $46,900.
- Inside Floor Area: 1108 Sqf (712 Sqf downstairs + 396 Sqf upstairs)
- Wall thickness: 2-3/4″ (70 mm) – dual T&G pattern
- Ridge height: 15’11” – high ceiling floor area 235 Sqf
- Floor, Roof/Ceiling boards thickness: 23/32″
Prefab Boom
MarketWatch reports Amazon is selling entire houses for less than $20,000 — with free shipping.
Prefabricated and modular housing — with homes prebuilt in factories — is having another moment. From 2013 to 2018, industry revenue grew an annualized 8.6% to nearly $10.5 billion, including growth of 4.1% in 2018 alone, according to research firm IBISWorld.
Sears used to sell houses in its catalog. We have now come full circle.
Not Included
These prices do not include foundation, electric hookups, insulation, etc.
Many will not meet building codes, but that last one might straight up or with some modifications.
Coming Soon
I suspect for under $80,000 there will be prefab, well-insulated, and everything included (even the foundation, kitchens, bathrooms, etc.) homes that will be of reasonable quality and meet building codes in many cities.
Good luck finding land at affordable prices with electricity and utility connections readily available, to put one of these houses on.
Then again, try places like Danville, Illinois, my home town.
The problem, however, is $80,000 is an enormous price for decaying cities like Danville.
$50,000 will buy very livable homes.
Thus, we need to see $30,000 homes, with everything included, that can be built on the existing foundation.
In time, I expect this to happen.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
This guy built a similar place for 2k….F… Amazon! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6paeLIrvCM
Also not included: land price, land due diligence & closing, land prep, labor, specing of utilities, utility hook-ups, government entitlements and inspections, clean up. Not for the inexperienced. Must have deep pockets. R values suck.
R value of <3″ wood wall is under R-5….meaning these are only mean for a kid’s playhouse or a REALLY moderate climate.
This is not a home but more like a shed to store.things in are a childs playplace. Amazon and others have to stop confusing the public by labeling things houses that are not houses. This is more like a kit that is not made to local zoning standards and will end up costing more in adjustments and zoning then it will for the kit.
Great! Now I just need to come up with the $500,000 for a tiny patch of land here in Canada and I’m all set!
You have to pay for assembly, foundation, land, utility hookups, etc… I suspect that will cost as much as the kit. I had a 800 sq ft addition to my house and it cost $75k in 2013. Seems it would cost about the same.
Neena – when did you graduate?
I am from the Schlarman class of 1971
I’m originally from Danville, IL and it’s nice to see someone from there doing great things like providing informative articles about finances.
Vote Democrat and there will be an endless stream of cheap labor. It’s not like little Mikey or Eric will come out and sweat and bleed for a living, Jimmy and travis said screw this 20 years ago so that leaves Fernando, Arturo, Luis and their families and countrymen to get the job done. Sad part is they dont know their worth and the suits know they dont know. 22+% profit margins didnt come out of nowhere despite the rising costs of material over the past 25 years
How much longer until Amazon starts selling cars and trucks?
Who knows, but EBay has sold them for years.
They already do
Like all else in totalitarian societies, that is not up to Amazon, but to, tah-dah.., The Politiburo.
Having done so in the past few years for rentals, I can build a pretty nice, turn key, 1,800 sqft house for $50-60/sqft using off the shelf materials from local Big Box store with a LOT better r-value in the walls (2×6….R-19) (vs
The fact is housing could be very affordable IF folks would learn to swing a hammer…..and then do so.
I get what you’re saying, but if I knew you bought a kit from Menards…..I’d say it’s one step above firewood.
I’ve worked there, I know who picks that lumber.
Sadly, it’s better than the garbage homes in my area going up for $300k that will fall apart in 6 years.
But kudos to you!!! I’m building on a lot I just picked up. Like you said, learn to swing a hammer…then I’ll let you use my nail gun.
Switched to nail guns many years ago JJ. The ‘swing a hammer’ was more of a metaphor. I’ve never bought a kit home, always pick my stuff out in person.
Part of the trick is finding bargain materials….for example, one of the houses I put in mis-measured replacement windows….someone had missed the correct size for a 36×54 by an inch, and Home Depot had a whole pallet of them for $50 each versus over $200 ea new. Only difference in new construction and replacement is the lack of a nailing fin on the replacements…simply install like a replacement in a rough opening, then frame around with a 2×2 for molding, wrap with trim coil…..then side as normal. 15 windows $750 rather than $3,000+.
Built the kitchen cabinets in my shop….nice solid birch plywood casework with oak fronts/doors. Thousands saved over much cheaper made factory cabinets.
As long as amazon, instead of Fanny/Freddie, is willing to hold the mortgage, it will be a HUGE win for taxpayers. Somehow I think Amazon is counting on Fanny/Freddie to take that financial risk.
Doesn’t solve the biggest problem with affordable housing…affordable real estate. Cheap manufactured housing is nothing new. Larger issue is that real estate (the actual land) has been inflated across the board. What’s the point of putting a $50,000 tiny home on a lot that you don’t own or in a neighborhood/location you don’t really want to be in?
When private equity parasites are jumping into the mobile home park market, that doesn’t bode well. It’s just more profiteering from those who were bailed out during the last housing crash, shoving their weight (and liquidity) around at the expense of the broader public.
These homes never took off on HGTV during the downturn. They look more like elite kids treehouses for a reason. With 0% interest coming we will soon be back to lower rates an d crashing prices on homes like 2009 and 2010. The next recession will give us MMT as well.
There are good ideas and bad ones, but at lease Amazon is heading in right direction in solving are housing problem.👍
Sears & Roebuck did this 100 years ago. You could pick out a house in the catalog and it was shipped knock down to you via rail line.
That “getaway cabin” is just a bit bigger than the garden shack I built for $3k, though it admittedly does not have a sleeping-loft.
Sorry, I meant the Lillevilla thingy.
This is why I’m going to build mine in New York City , flip it , as is and make a fortune. New Yorkers are gullible, and they’re always going for the next bright ,shiny, trend.
Build the first all log sky scraper.
Hope you have deep pockets to jump through the City bureaucracy and that is just for lawful fees. Baksheesh is extra.
Increasingly strong winds(climate change?) will blow apart similar schacks in no time….Nothing is better and stronger than brick and mortar !
What increasingly strong winds? Are you talking about a hurricane that is maybe 5 mph stronger at it’s core? I don’t think that extra speed will matter.
….stick your head a bit deeper into the sand…
Propaganda alters perspective. 24/7 talking heads screeching about the weather as if it were a Martian invasion scare a lot of people.
Prefab is important for redevelopment/gentrification in areas with expensive land and old housing stock. It wins over site built because of time and labor. Local labor is expensive. Carrying debt on land is expensive.
This is where solar panels come in…Sun 💡 collect and filter rain water, don’t build where a tornado 🌪️ is going to take it or flooding 🌊 going to wash it away or earthquake and it sound doable!
Danville Illinois isnt worth building a 5 dollar shit house in. Nothing there but a prison and the hillbillys that run it.
I didn’t know that there was a Danville, IL. I thought that he meant Danville, VA.
Perfect for those with a share cropper dream. Amazonia Acres here we come.
Perhaps once hemp production ramps into the stratosphere we’ll have super cheap composition building materials, maybe 5-10 years. The first manufacturing plants to do this are being built now. A hemp flooring manufacturer is already operating in Kentucky, their hemp flooring is similar to the popular bamboo flooring.
No plumbing, no kitchen, no bathroom, no electric wiring. Maybe a hunting cabin but as a home you’re probably looking at another $20-50k.
Folks are already shitting in the streets.