These Home Styles Were Just Deemed “Least Valuable,” But We Have Proof Otherwise

We can’t say we’re surprised to hear that beach houses top the list of the most valuable homes, per American Home Shield’s latest findings. Who wouldn’t want 24-7 ocean views and lapping waves at their doorstep? While we can agree there, we’re not totally sold on the home types deemed “least valuable” by the recent study, which analyzed Zillow’s sold listings by calculating the sale numbers and average price for each style in-state and across the country. Mobile and manufactured residences, shotgun homes, and early-American builds were at the bottom of the list, ringing in at an average of $118,689, $140,831, and $148,617, respectively. Having gotten a peek inside so many different styles of houses over the years, our editors know that these underdogs are worth rooting for. Here are three examples that will make you rethink the beach.

Pre-fabulous

Actor, director, and producer Sasha Alexander likens her renovated Malibu trailer to a dollhouse—and not just because of its size or boxy construction. Rather, it’s filled only with things that make her family happy. And it is easy to move things around (even the walls!) if you want to renovate.

Fire Away

Shotgun houses get their name from their narrow, continuous, linear layouts, and we admit they can be notoriously tricky to navigate when spatial planning. But when you have the creative vision of New Orleans–based drag wrestler Jassy and use brightly colored murals to designate one “room” from the next, you barely notice there are no hallways.

Old Soul

The 18th century was considered the height of the Enlightenment, and for the founders of Hawkins New York, buying a 1750s home brought about pretty radical results. Inspired by traditional paneling in Dutch Colonials, the couple designed a simplified modern version for the living room walls. The centuries-old property embodies the pair’s ideal balance of “Design Within Reach catalog” and “cool grandma,” proving that beauty (and value) is in the eye of the beholder.