NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The idea of living in a factory-built house turns off many Americans; much too déclassé.

But during the first half of the twentieth century, Sears, Roebuck and Co., Montgomery Ward, and other catalogue retailers sold hundreds of thousands of unassembled, factory-built houses (often known generically as "Sears" homes) to an eager market. Homebuyers could peruse a catalogue, decide on a model, and send in an order. A few months later, the first deliveries of an average of 30,000 individually numbered house parts (not including nails and screws) would arrive at the nearest railroad depot.

Purchasers could build their brand-new home themselves or hire local contractors; Sears would even estimate the number of man-hours a job would require.

Prices ranged from less than $500 for the simplest cottage to $5,000 or more for a two-story colonial. After the depression slowed sales and sent many homes into foreclosure (Sears financed many of the purchases), the company dropped houses from their catalogue in 1940.

Today's homebuyers have a new-found appreciation for the quality and workmanship of those old "prefabs." Sears houses came in many architectural styles from capes to colonials, with bungalows perhaps the most popular. Many sported distinctive features such as "catslide roofs," half-moon doors, and crescent, or eyebrow windows.

Click here for a gallery of Sears homes now on the market.