To add a counterpoint to the conversation: I recently had to deal with a house built in the 70's, western Europe. It's now basically four walls and a roof. No i

To add a counterpoint to the conversation: I recently had to deal with a house built in the 70's, western Europe. It's now basically four walls and a roof. No isolation. No central heating except for the first floor. Gaz boilers for hot tap water, connected to outside gaz cylinders you replace every two months. Electricity will be hard to redo, actual central heating too. The costs to get it up to date will be another house. Utility costs while it was inhabited were through the roofs. In the 70's, it was easy money and full employment for a lot of people and single house income could buy you such house. Some people built houses for themselves that wouldn't last more than a generation and wouldn't care at all about their descendants.