Two years before the housing market imploded in 2008, a builder bought four duplexes and one single family home on Bucher Drive in Winnona Park. After razing the modest houses, Hairy Dog, Inc. built five two-story houses on the quiet road just east of South Candler Road. Four of the five homes are now occupied. But the remaining house sits deserted in a sea of weeds with a stack of waterlogged phone books piled on its porch. The City of Decatur Public Works Department has taped two notices to its windows: a 2009 warning that final inspection and a certificate of occupancy is required and a …

Linda Pace and David Callihan are nearing the end of a four-year project to transform a two-story concrete block eyesore into new home. Along the way they have discovered some of the pitfalls of do-it-yourself projects and learned some interesting stories about their property and neighborhood. The Decatur couple’s Greenwood Avenue property in Oakhurst has two houses on it: the square concrete block building in the rear and a rectangular brick home in front. Built in 1947 or 1948, the concrete block building is the older of the two houses. When Pace and Callihan bought the property in 1999, …