Bloomberg- Hedge fund manager Steve Moyer joined 4,000 realtors and bargain hunters at a five-hour Southern California housing auction in February. As the tuxedoed barker peddled foreclosed homes for hundreds of thousands of dollars below their previous sale prices, Moyer took notes — research that may help him make money from the biggest housing collapse in 26 years. <\/p>\n
Moyer, who helps oversee $7 billion at Tennenbaum Capital Partners LLC, is part of the rush of more than 70 hedge funds — including those run by Blackstone Group LP and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — to snap up distressed mortgages and securities from banks battered by the subprime meltdown. <\/p>\n
“The risk is getting in too soon, before all the losses are flushed out,” says Moyer of Santa Monica, California-based Tennenbaum, which is considering investments in securities linked to the housing market. “It’s really just hard to call the bottom.” <\/p>\n