Solar hot water systems (popular in the Carter administration), used large, usually tilted up panels on the roof to preheat hot water or glycol in order to lower the homes electricity and/or gas consumption and to heat hot water.

Same thing with taxes (that's public record), utility rates (you can make reasonable guesses on consumption levels), landscaping costs, etc.

I don't judge anyone, but alcohol next to the bed is a big red flag in my book...especially a tenant!

My solution (borrowed from Neil Boortz), is the consumption tax.

Thomas Jefferson knew that consumption was the best for of taxation- (see http://duckduckgo.com/?

Here are the Big Six (6) reasons people abandon houses: 1) Skipped town 2) Substance abuse (drugs and alcohol) 3) Incarceration 4) Severe mental and emotional problems 5) Senility (senior may be residing in nearby facility) 6) Deceased The first thing I want to do when encountering an unoccupied property is to determine if it's an "orphan" or not.

In the dead of winter, the source water temperature is low enough that the solar thermal frequently does not lift the water temperature enough for consumption (usually 10-20 degrees low) under heavy load.

What kind of consumption figures are we talking about?

But, when I present a property my idea is to do so with a numbers report from the outset, where I calculate estimated initial investment (in all the relevant categories laid out for easy consumption) as well as calculate return on investment, cash flow, expenses, etc.

Previously was a suit factory then a bowling alley that was run down and was not interested in selling alcohol (major issue for a bowling alley) finally a bingo hall, just not a bustling industry demand for bingo.