Of all European cultures, the Greeks seem to have the most pronounced tendency for this, which is why I think I've spent so much of my life battling that feeling in myself. 

The owners usually slam crappy tenants in and then claim the property is stable after 1 year etc. with minimal repairs and the expensive stuff to replace is ancient.

@Roy N.Sometimes insulating ancient brick buildings is very impractical.

Romans, Greeks, Chinese dynasty etc.

I think unemployment will get back to its pre-coronavirus numbers though it will take time (at least 6-9 months).The economy is good if you look at the classic definition: An economy (from Greek οίκος – "household" and νέμoμαι – "manage") is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services by different agents.However when I look at US debt - which pretty much every politician with few exceptions have kicked the can down the road - I see a massive problem with inflation. 

And with the exception of the ancient but functional furnace in the main house, I don't see much reason to put off repairs- so I wouldn't lose much to go ahead and do a full rehab all at once, and have a better property from the word go. 

I guess it doesn’t help that I live in a very remote area with ancient, crappy homes.

I used to go to school with the son of a famous Greek shipping tycoon, crazy rich, net worth up in the hundreds of millions.

Here is the problem with having a park full of these ancient homes even if they are privately owned.

LOL Mark, for what it's worth, the same sort of thing happened with the Greeks.