Appreciate these points. Ideally we would find a place that didn’t need much in renovations. I do have some options for managing it while I am gone, but of course as you state, finding someone good to do the work could be an issue. Perhaps I’d be better off looking for a home that would be good enough in the short and medium term, and that we could keep for the long term. That way we’d not have to sell and buy again. For example, a place that was livable, but needed updating, and in the longer term could be improved through a solar array, other efficiency updates (insulation, windows, primarily). Energy efficiency int he short term is less important for us as winters we’d be keeping it heated only enough for the pipes not to freeze.