When we bought our home in foreclosure, it was suffering the effects of former fixes that didn't work out so well. That's being gracious.

Electric wire was stapled to the walls, snaking up to light fixtures and receptacles, with haphazard connections when the wire apparently ran short. Above-the-floor plumbing, combined with inadequate heat and no insulation, resulted in burst pipes.

The great miracle was not that anyone had lived there, but that they made it out alive.