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Driving through Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood with the dedicated Debra Wilson is a lesson in architecture, family histories and, yes, the economy. "We'd love to get our hands on that house," she said, about a half-dozen times, shaking her head at boarded-up or dilapidated buildings. If a house is neglected, or even on its last legs ("No house lasts forever," said Wilson), it is a target of hope for Wilson and her 15 co-workers at the nonprofit Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp., or FRDC.

Wilson, real estate coordinator at FRDC, and Jay Gardner, community development director at the organization, recently conducted a tour of the agency's two most recent projects: a Victorian on East 97th Street and a Craftsman-style house on East 87th Street.

Both nearly century-old houses were sad, with rotted wood and logic-defying additions and floor-plan alterations. Neglect was evident from the sidewalk all the way through to the homes' rotting interiors.