What do you think of this time/money 'investment' vs scenario?

Part one: You and your wife and your two kids have to vacate a rented home, so you decide to buy something and end up buying a great house in the suburbs with a yard and drive way and room to grow. The basement is unfinished and could be turned into a rec-room. The house needs an exterior paint job. There are gardens that need tending. The deck needs to be power washed and re-stained. You live there with your wife and kids, but you make no effort as a husband, father and investor to improve or even maintain the property.
Skip to 3 years later.
Part 2: You meet a girl about 15 years younger, she is less established, unemployed and she has a child as old as your youngest son. You have sold the property you owned with your wife, but sold it as a loss because of the state it was in and your eagerness to be rid of the payments. You get the opportunity to rent a property together with the new girl but, but by all rights and laws of the city, it should be bulldozed. You don’t own the property, but you end up spending every waking moment and penny of extra money fixing the place up, from re-doing the foundation, to making the interior liveable which means an upgrade of electrics and any doors or cupboards or panelling or painting that needs doing. You do NOT own this property. You are renting. It is on lease-owned land from the city which can by pulled at any time, so you could find yourself evicted with a months notice.
Does this make any sense to anyone?