Many people these days have been struggling to pay ever-increasing rent and mortgage prices, with some being priced out of their hometowns entirely. For one adventurous woman named Hannah Doss, she thought she could do better than being stuck paying high rent and living with unpredictable people she found on Craigslist. Her idea was to buy a home that was cheap and moveable – something that isn’t a new concept to fans of the on-the-road lifestyle. From wooden tiny homes to fairy houses to those carefully planned out “van life” vans there have been a lot of these homes trending online and in real life the last few years. But, Hannah had an inside advantage in that her father had worked for railroads for 20 years and had informed her about railroad auctions.
These auctions showcase surplus items that the railroads would no longer be needing- sometimes at incredibly low prices. These items included trailers that were used by railroads. Hannah was able to buy a 1985 railroad trailer for only $350 after setting that low limit for herself. Her plan worked, but she knew she’d have to spend a pretty penny to refurbish the trailer since it was unused and unattended to for many years before coming to auction.
Hannah named her trailer home “Journey” and with the aluminum shell they outside, while not attractive, was free from rust. All it needed was a good paint job. While the outside was simple, the inside require a full replacement of the wooden supports and the old wiring before new walls, furniture, and other aspects of the home could be built.
Her goal to fix it up was to come in with a budget under $6,000, using as much free labor as she could in her herself and her family. The actual final cost was around $9,000. That’s not bad considering the huge transformation Journey went through!
Hannah speculates in an interview with the folks at the Tiny House Giant Journey YouTube channel that the labor would have cost about $10,000 had she hired professionals. As for rent she now only pays $39 a month to rent a spot in an RV park near scenic Lake Tahoe.
While many people might consider this a vacation home, she’s lived full time in Journey for the past 4 years. And, it’s not only her space. She’s lives there with her dog and boyfriend in about 232 square feet of space.
You can see how it all happened and get a tour of this gorgeous trailer home in the video below.