How a home bargain became a 'pain in the butt', and worse

New York

JAMES Williams thought he had found a great deal on a home. The monthly fee on the three-storey fixer-upper in Cincinnati was cheaper than the rent on his last home. And the payments would go toward the US$40,000 he needed to own the place.

But Mr Williams will almost certainly never own the house. Instead, he was left with a grandson with lead poisoning from peeling paint in the 98-year-old home and he says around US$10,000 in critical repairs to the plumbing system.