A stepping stone trailer
Jonathan and Andrea
proved that a trailer can be a cheap and easy way
to work toward buying your dream homestead. "We spent
the first 10 years of our married life living in various rented
apartments, a townhouse, and even one 'real' house," Andrea
explained. "We had decided that the city we were living in was
getting too big and to live a more sustainable life, and for our
sanity, we needed to get out into the 'country'. We soon realized
that finding both a house and a piece of land that we liked together
was going to be impossible. So we decided to focus on the land
and build a house."
"Andrea had previously indicated that she was not interested in
living in a trailer, but when we decided to move to the country, it
seemed like a good option and she agreed," Jonathan chimed in.
"Building a house was
going to take time, and even longer if we were
not
living on site," continued Andrea. "We looked into small
pre-built
sheds, yurts, small cabins, etc. But none seemed right for our
lifestyle and environment. So we decided to buy a trailer, live
in it till we found land 
and had the trailer paid off,
then move it to
the land."
The duo found the
perfect trailer for $8,000 in a trailer park with a
lot fee of $215 per month. The 1982 model was old but in good
condition, with 924 square feet of interior space broken up into two
bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, and a sunken living room.
Jonathan and Andrea
appreciated the ability to move out of their
apartment and
into the trailer immediately. Two years later, the perfect
32-acre property
came along and they spent an additional $12,000 having a spot graded for the trailer on their new land, installing a septic tank, and
having the trailer delivered and set up. "[The trailer] allowed
us
to save money on housing
while we searched for the property," Jonathan said, "and now allows us
to take our time
with choosing the spot on our property for building the type of
home we wish to construct, while also allowing us to build at our own
pace."
To read more about
Jonathan and Andrea's adventures, visit Jonathan's
blog, or read the
rest of their profile on Trailersteading.
| This post is part of our Trailersteading lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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