While this is an interesting read, it's pretty much a textbook case of what happens when you don't perform your diligence.

At every turn the couple seems to make monumentally reckless decisions -- from spending more than they can afford, to buying a nearly condemned halfway home and expecting modest repair work, to buying it pretty much sight unseen, to hiring a friendly stranger as a contractor, to commencing $300k+ in contract labor without funding secured, to bribing squatters with big wads of cash. Squatters who obviously know where the couple lives.

Yikes. I do feel sorry for these folks. But I read this entire article between the gaps in my fingers, my palm fixed to my face, my lips silently mouthing, "Nooooo!"