So often, in helping buyers find their first home, I can’t help but think back to my first home away from home. And, oh what a home it was! I was 21 years old. My first home was a mobile home. No, let’s just call it what it was, it was a trailer, a rickety old single-wide 12 x 60 foot trailer, that needed alot of tender loving care. It was downright ugly. It needed a good thorough scrubbing from top to bottom and a coat of paint.
It had red shag carpeting with red lights in the ceiling. The second bedroom was the size of a bathroom. It fit one single bed and a tiny little dresser. You had to practically climb on the bed to get into the closet.
And, it was on the railroad tracks. The master bedroom window was 10 feet from the train. On the other side there was a busy street. So, I lived at the railroad crossing!
Each time a train went by the whole place shook. The dishes clattered in the cupboards and the chandelier danced on the ceiling, threatening to come crashing down. We had to run across the living room to turn the TV up when a train was going by (it was before the days of remote controls – I know, I know, back in the stone age). Between the ding, ding, ding of the railroad crossing gates going down, the traffic stopping, the train whistle, and the train roaring by, I was ready to be put in a rubber room. Although I loved the thought of having a place of my own, after a couple of weeks I really disliked living there. I cried the first night I stayed there.
But, it was mine, all mine. I paid $3,500 for it, with my own money. I owned it free and clear and I paid $95.00 a month in lot rent to have it parked on a "prime" piece of real estate.
I spent a year a half there and never slept through an entire night, because of the train.
One day I decided it was time to move on, so I stuck a For Sale sign in the window and sold the place a couple of weeks later. The couple that bought it didn't mind the train. When I was showing it to them a train came roaring by. They said they were used to living by the tracks as they had for years. It was a match made in heaven.
I took my little profit and my sister and I pooled our money and built a home together. Now that was a real home!
My Dad gave me this picture when I lived in the trailer, as a joke. I have kept it throughout the years. I can now look back on it with fond memories of growing up and heading out on my own for the first time.
Do you remember your first home? What was it like?
Sandy Shores REALTOR®, Melbourne/Palm Bay FL Real Estate
Brevard County Real Estate & Investing
I also buy, sell, rent, own and manage Investment Property.
