Sears use to sell kit houses. For $1k ~ $2k in 1930s money, you could get a railroad boxcar dumped on some land you bought with all the parts to build you home. There are still tens of thousands of them all around the US, but they've been renovated and changed so much it's hard to see the original design. Some people have found the original Sears model number plaques nailed up in the attics.