Nearly one out of every four properties purchased by investors at auction over the past four years has cost them money, not because they didn’t know what they were doing but because lenders overvalued them when setting minimum bid and reserve amounts, especially in markets with weaker demand and an older housing stock. As a result, investors in one market alone, Cleveland, have lost over $56 million since 2006.  A new study by two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Thomas J. … [Read more...]