A row of tiny sand-colored townhouses on the block where Jane’s (not her real name) home of two years is located looks particularly serene, unperturbed by the woes suffered by their supposed owners in the process of acquiring them.

Except for the fact that only her house in the row of 10 units is occupied, outwardly there is no sign of a “problem.” The houses appear to be in good repair, if a little drab looking, and even the grass and weeds in the uninhabited yard spaces have been trimmed. Jane’s own house, which she shares with her two teenage sons and her husband, when he is not deployed to the far corners of the globe as a merchant seaman, is pleasant and tidy, but appearances can be deceiving.

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