For the first five years of our marriage, our partner as well as I rented a honestly nice apartment, then the two of us enjoyed every amenity. The building was equipped with a large swimming pool, hot tub, barbecue area, fitness center as well as game room, then within the lake house we had state-of-the-art appliances, including stainless steel refrigerator, stove, microwave, washer as well as dryer. The two of us had several full bathrooms with double sinks, a balcony with a view of the swimming pool as well as stone countertops. The heating as well as cooling method was charmingly quiet as well as energy efficient. There were smart control units installed in each room to cater to preferences! From an app on our iPhones, we could absolutely make swings to temperature from anywhere at any time. When we started looking to buy a house, we wanted all of these same luxuries included. The two of us planned to purchase a lake house with a swimming pool, zoned heating as well as cooling as well as the most new appliances; then unfortunately, houses of that caliber weren’t anywhere near our price range. However, in order to get the amount of land as well as square footage we wanted, we needed to downgrade our expectations quite a bit. The two of us ended up buying a fixer-upper with a seasoned gas furnace, no a/c as well as no swimming pool. My partner as well as I have made a list of lake house improvement projects. Most of them are quite expensive, so it’s going to take us years to complete them all! At the top of the list is a/c with a smart control unit. We’re hoping that if we spend a bit extra on a high-efficiency cooling system, it will keep yearly costs to a minimum as well as make the investment easily more affordable.