Guevares did his homework before the event, checking out three foreclosed houses listed in a catalog.

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And the people who bought those foreclosed houses from the bank might not actually own the houses they paid for.

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Banks and other lenders were unloading foreclosed houses, and they were selling at 50 percent to 60 percent below their highest values.

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The lesson learned was basic and deeply ingrained: borrowing to buy assets above your means is a sketchy proposition, as the recent owners of 16.5 million foreclosed houses will attest.

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The real rise in housing starts is in rental apartments, as investors buy foreclosed single-family houses to rent.

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The company will soon be giving forfeited money to a nonprofit that works with families whose houses have been foreclosed, he said.

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Meanwhile, American banks overloaded with foreclosed properties are demolishing vacant dwellings to get the empty houses off their books.

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Safeguard says it handles about a quarter-million foreclosed properties a month across the country, and Carlozzi says he inspects between 25 and 30 houses every day.

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While the organization has built a couple of houses from the ground up, it has also developed a program that moves veterans into foreclosed properties donated by banks and municipalities.

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Most houses that were sold were to first-time home buyers who received the rebates, or auctioned and foreclosed homes at bargain prices by those hoping to flip them later.

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