 <p>As far as syntax goes, you can use the <a href="https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173224.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">null-coalescing</a> operator if you want to be fancy, but it's not necessarily as readable.</p> <pre><code>get { return notes ?? (notes = CalcNotes()); } </code></pre> <p><strong>Edit: Updated courtesy of Matthew. Also, I think the other answers are more helpful to the question asker!</strong></p>