That Victorian home you\u2019ve been ogling may feature lovely leaded glass windows, but you\u2019ll never find a suitable replacement at the local home improvement store. A slate roof is a beautiful thing to behold, but can be terribly expensive to repair. And if the roof\u2019s very steep, costs could go up even further. A house which has simple, solid construction, where everything\u2019s easy to access and uses relatively standard materials, is generally the easiest and most inexpensive to maintain.<\/p>\n
As some building contractors will tell you, the shape of your structure provides a general measure of its complexity. Count the corners of your building. Four-corner buildings are often simplest to maintain and add on to, and it goes up from there.<\/p>\n
When examining a potential investment property, consider ease of access to the heating, cooling, plumbing, and electrical systems. A panel or wall behind the shower allows quick access to plumbing in case of a problem, whereas if that shower backs up to another bathroom, you might be looking at removing a whole tiled wall.<\/p>\n
Complicated landscaping may be expensive to maintain as well; I look for properties with a simple, small lawn, nice manageable planting bed, and ideally a large rock garden or patio. Less maintenance for your tenants and for you.<\/p>\n
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Look for simple construction That Victorian home you\u2019ve been ogling may feature lovely leaded glass windows, but you\u2019ll never find a suitable replacement at the local home improvement store. A slate roof is a beautiful thing to behold, but can be terribly expensive to repair. And if the roof\u2019s very steep, costs could go up … <\/p>\n