Comment by asdff

The thing is with all of these improvements is that if they were so easy to implement for other people, everyone would do them. It might be better to ask why people aren't installing this stuff if they save money over time? The answer is most people really don't have very much money available beyond what can cover existing routine costs. For a lot of people if they wanted to replace their water heater they would have to take on debt or part with an asset to afford that. Yes, on the whole the cost is amortized, but you still need to produce significant capital up front to make it happen at all. And maybe the water heater isn't the only couple hundred dollar purchase you've been putting on the backburner in your life.

As a result, where you find homes outfitted like yours, you tend to also find incomes well above the cost of living.