You know when they say to buy the shittiest house on a nice street? That was us. The previous owner (an old electrician/tinkerer/junk collector) had built a workshed in the yard that was only high enough for a roughly 5'4" man (him) to stand up in. He'd jury-rigged some electricity to it (which I promptly disconnected before knocking the whole bug-trap down. He left the basement and garage full of his old electronic/electrical flotsam (including old phone guts, which he apparently collected because they contain small amount of valuable metals). When we moved in (Nov. 1,'99), the house had no working furnace. There was a carbon monoxide detector mounted to it. Seems they'd run the furnace for heat until it set off the detector, and then they'd shut it down for a while. I've since replaced the kitchen, both bathrooms, the roof, front and side doors, and all the windows.