Such excitement among the intrepid homebuyers who pushed aside every obstacle as they hurdled their fears to take on these ugly houses.
As one British review said it would have made a great game show.
"... were it not for the fact that it's all real – right down to the burglars, gunfire and fear
It's kind of Extreme House Makeover, and the money adds pressure and tension."
So the rules were that once each happy buyer had made the cut, time pressure was meted out by the council.
They were given a year to do the renovation work - no small task believe me.
If they couldn't handle the work within a year then they would lose the house, and any money they have spent on it. OUCH.
If that wasn't stiff enough, the council also tied them up with red tape which meant these new so-called owners were between at least nine rocks and one huge hard place.
The council had made it impossible for them to start work on these houses because of unforeseen legal restrictions, meaning that our families are trapped, unable to move forward, or in.
We did have a cast of characters of which the most miserable was the council man and timid representative Tony.
Poor old Tony he would've made a perfect Wilkins McCawber from Dicken's novel David Copperfield.
He tried hard to encourage the irate house owners but really with every meeting he dashed their dreams.
Warnings were pealed constantly about the fact that these houses were in a rough, right bad area.
One poor owner was reduced to tears when he arrived one day to find his nearly finished house had been looted of all the new appliances.
The burglars had even hacked out a wall to get a the fridge out. And worse, there was no insurance.
Nothing could be insured until the house was finished you see.
He was devastated. I was crushed.
This was far from a realising a dream.
Shows how wrong you can be. If it sounded too good to be true. It was.
