Odell Barnes

Odell Barnes is a South Carolina man known as the "Foreclosure King." For decades, Barnes has been buying foreclosed homes in bulk from banks and then helping investors purchase the properties. The investors then sell the homes for a low down payment and at a higher-than-normal interest rate. Barnes' business expanded greatly in 2008, in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.ABC News: Foreclosure King: Best Thing for Distressed...

"Two years ago, you bought 100, 200 houses a month, now you buy 2,000 to 3,000 houses a month and it's going to be more. They don't know what to do with them, the mortgage companies, and they're just dumping them."—Odell BarnesABC News: Foreclosure King: Best Thing for Distressed...

"Our business model is really financial. We are not a real estate investor. It often makes more sense to sell them in a bulk sales process, to an investor or to a state or to a nonprofit that can really take on those properties, bring them back up to a place ... that is appropriate for sale or rent to a new family or homeowners."—Stacey Stewart, Senior Vice President of Fannie MaeABC News: Foreclosure King: Best Thing for Distressed...