This is the latest in a series of articles profiling how homeowners manage to buy their property in today's tough housing market.

Linda Smith Wilson has managed to get her "dream house" through many years of hard work.

Buying an old Bermuda "fix her up" has had its frustrating moments: "It always seems to happen just before Christmas" says Mrs. Wilson.

First there was the time when her sister turned on the TV and blew all the electric sockets in the kitchen so that none of the appliances worked, including the fridge full of Christmas food.

Then there was the time the ceiling collapsed in the kitchen just two weeks before Linda and her husband, Gavin, were due to have their wedding reception at the house.

Mrs. Wilson bought the house with her grandmother in 1988. Her grandmother had been living alone in a different parish and by selling her home they were able to buy a larger place where they could live together.

They took out a mortgage and the older lady contributed the equity from her former house as a deposit while Mrs. Wilson agreed to service the ongoing mortgage payments.

In 1988 the price of real estate was already extremely high, says Linda, so the sale of her grandmother's house allowed them to afford a larger place.

and split it into two apartments.

They found the house through word of mouth. "I fell in love with it on the spot" says Mrs Wilson. But it was ex-rental and in need of a lot of upgrading.

At first they had to concentrate structural issues. "It was five or six years before we could embark on any cosmetic work to the house," she says.

They had a lot of problems with the electric's which is ironic because Mrs. Wilson works for BELCO.

"At the time I was the PR person here," she says "The electrician guy said: "If you were the safety person at BELCO, you wouldn't have bought this house.""

"I've spent thousands on electric's and plumbing." she says.

Mrs. Wilson did not initially take out a loan for the renovations. In the early days she says she had to keep saving her money and did things job by job.

"I painted every room myself before we moved in because I couldn't afford a painter." she adds.

Mrs. Wilson comments that it is not easy renovating a house when you are actually living in it. You have to try and get contractors who are considerate of the fact that you are living there and clean up after themselves.

"Because Bermuda has been going though a boom, it is very difficult to get good contractors."

"We've had some real wackos!" she laughs.

She recalls one incident where contractors were due to paint the roof while she was at work. When she arrived home in the evening she found them only just about to start work."My house was lit up like the National stadium" she laughs, "They were planning to work through the night!"

She told them to come back the next day.

These days, they know people who are "very, very good," and on occasion Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been able to hire subcontractors directly without going through a contractor.

"We've done it a variety of ways. It comes down to finding good people who you know will show up when they say they will and do it well."

Mrs. Wilson says that despite all the trials and tribulations, she still loves the house "It has been a lovely family home."

"Now I think we're at the end of the road" she says, adding "I hate to say that... I'll probably get home and find something has happened!"