Well-Tended Sears Kit Home Five Minutes from Storm King Art Center, $229,000

  |  July 20, 2017

Apologies in advance for the salty language, but Sears Kit Homes from the first half of the 20th century were not screwing around. Sure, you could buy one for a couple of grand (or finance it to the hilt and watch as the bank repossessed it during the Great Depression) and build it yourself, but that doesn’t mean the kit homes were clapboard money pits. In fact, they were solid and comprised of durable materials like early-growth cypress. So, there are still some Sears kit homes kicking around in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, like this one located in Orange County, about 15 minutes south of Newburgh.

Here’s the thing with Sears Kit Homes: Experts agree that if your home was built before 1908 or after 1940, it’s not a Sears Kit. However, the build date for this American Foursquare is 1950. Not a real Sears Kit? Au contraire, for the Internet giveth unto abundance:

This is the very same model as 2061 State Route 94, Salisbury Mills, as is evidenced by the clustered porch columns and matching windows on either side of the front door. According to AntiqueHomeStyle.com, variations of this American Foursquare kit was sold by Sears around 1923. Which makes sense because look at that antique price of $938 for an entire house!

So, having confirmed that this is, indeed, a Sears kit home, let’s take a look at the insides. Includes first floor living room/formal dining room/kitchen, enclosed porch and “reception hall” with stairway to the second floor, where there are five bedrooms. French doors separate the reception hall from the living room. The hardwood floors look good, and the furnace and above ground oil tank have been updated within the past two years.

Situated on .71 acre of land about a half-mile from the Salisbury Mills/Cornwall station on Metro North’s Port Jervis line, west-0f-Hudson. Could be a swell commuter location. Living in a Sears Kit home, taking the train to the office in midtown…before you know it, you’ll be wearing hats again.

2061 State Route 94, Salisbury Mills (Hudson Heritage Realty)

About Kandy Harris

Kandy is a writer and musician/music teacher living in Saugerties, NY.

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