I said I don’t want to see any paneling anywhere.” I mean new floor, new ceiling, new walls. And I said I only want the place if you gut it to the studs. “We did a walk-through and the place was - whew,” she said. Then she got a call from a friend asking if she’d be interested in a trailer that a local contractor wanted to sell. She looked at buying a house, but even places that needed a lot of work were out of her price range. When Schmid lived in Sitka before, she’d rented, but it was tricky to find a place that could accommodate her teenage son, her dog and cats. “And I wondered how I could possibly afford to do that.” I really wanted to come back to Sitka,” Schmid said.
“I just kept coming back to the idea that being self-employed was the only thing that really worked for me after being an attorney for over 25 years, and the place that I really wanted to live was Sitka. She was old enough to withdraw some of her retirement, and she started asking herself where she wanted to live and what she wanted to do next. She used to own a big house with land in Wasilla, and had a big mortgage to go with it.īut a few years back after a divorce, she decided to make a change toward a simpler life. “I’ve had a lot of people come over, and they’re just absolutely stunned when they come in,” she said. It’s bright and tidy, with hardwood cabinets and new appliances. Inside, the nearly 900-square-foot home looks like any modern apartment or house. It’s not just the scenery that’s inviting. The mouth of the Indian River spills into Sitka Sound outside her kitchen window. And she isn’t the only one looking beyond the stigma of trailer living.Īt the front door of Schmid’s olive green trailer home, black and white border collie Lady greets visitors. But in places like Sitka, where construction costs are high and land availability is low, they’re an important affordable housing alternative.įor attorney Robin Schmid of Sitka, renovating a trailer provided a path to debt-free homeownership. When people think of trailer homes, many envision shoddy construction and unhealthy living conditions. She paid $75,000 for it, around a fifth of what she would’ve paid for a house that still needed a lot of work. Attorney Robin Schmid of Sitka stands in front of her renovated trailer home.
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