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ATLANTA -- As in any economic downturn, the wave of home foreclosures has attracted voracious opportunists -- investors among them who are buying, fixing and then renting the places out. In their wake are aspiring owner-occupants. How hard could it be, they ask, to pick up one of these houses on the cheap and make it livable? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several years ago, Nathan Deal and his wife invested $2 million to help their daughter and son-in-law open an outdoor sporting goods store. They eventually doubled down by guaranteeing bank debt worth $2 million more. The business failed in 2009, the children filed for bankruptcy and their elders are now scrambling to avoid the same fate. How do we know all of this? Because Mr. Deal is running for governor in Georgia, and his financial competence has become a campaign issue because of the money mess he and his family have gotten themselves into. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]