The older the building, the more maintenance will be required, and the more idiosyncratic the problems will be. And outsourcing maintenance, especially in remote areas, nearly always drives up the price a lot.
But there is an answer commonly used by people who holiday in the country for only part of the year, and therefore aren't around to do their own maintenance: the shared cabin / "static caravan" / "trailer".
> The older the building, the more maintenance will be required
Yes, in the current model. But the same is often true for most things (cars, computers, etc.). I wonder though if a different setup is possible, the one that optimizes for low maintenance and modular diagnostics and replacement. If so what a price tag would be. If it is well into 6 digits what scale would be needed to drive down the price extra to 100k or less?
Maybe that is not feasible, but I think we are at the state where if this were possible enough folks would jump at it.
It's not really a matter of money. In fact, the bigger the house and the bigger the property, the more work it tends to be to keep things up. A newer well-built smaller house should be less upkeep than some old, rambling farmhouse would be.
A big problem is that it's hard to outsource things that aren't repeatable regular tasks like lawn mowing and housecleaning. Of course you can outsource anything. But before you know it, you're spending a lot of money somewhere like the US for a reliable property manager and, as my neighbor was reminding me just yesterday, managing people then brings its own set of issues.
But there is an answer commonly used by people who holiday in the country for only part of the year, and therefore aren't around to do their own maintenance: the shared cabin / "static caravan" / "trailer".