They come with fantastic insulation between the floors, extra parking on the side with a separate entrance, their own laundry, and plenty of bedrooms up & down.

You can also consider increasing your deductible to lower the premium, assuming you have enough reserves for emergencies.Energy Efficiency Improvements→ If you cover utilities for your rental properties, look into energy-efficient upgrades (such as LED lighting, better insulation, or energy-efficient appliances).

I'm thinking about things like soundproof insulation, but I'd love to hear other ideas.

We had already been planning to do some maintenance and repairs (repave driveway, re-insulate attic, replace two broken faucets, other minor items), but were wondering if, for tax reasons, we are better off waiting until we close on the new home and this is no longer our primary.Can this work count toward tax deductions as preparatory work on rental property, even if it's currently our primary?

Sometimes if you are renting the unit and it is not insulated properly, then you hear footsteps and conversations from next-door units, so tenants complain a lot, but there is not much you can do.Also, one time the unit above mine leaked water into my unit, and the HOA said I needed to talk to people living above mine to fix the issue and they didn't have the fund to fix the bathtub from leaking into mine, so I had to pay for the repairs.Sometimes working with HOA and is painful, but other times is easy if the unit does not have problems

Hemp is used as an insulation material, now sought after for custom homes.

You might be able to erect a shed style place for that, but that's minus insulation, electric, plumbing, finishes, furnishing etc etc etc.. $3k is fantasy land. 

Thank you would it cost more then 200,000 to just do the basics like, insulation, electric, roof and plumbing?

Additionally, it is way more insulated than the sun belt due to the regulatory requirements when it comes to building.

Because we were changing our garage to a dwelling unit, we had to comply with the new HERS requirements including high density foam insulation, Energy Recovery Units, and more.