Call them grave dancers, vulture funds, turnaround specialists or the more euphemistic ''opportunity investors.'' However you identify them, the deal is the same: When hyperactive real estate markets lose their sizzle, or property owners no longer can afford to hang on to their houses, well-capitalized investors smell blood -- and move in.

That's happening in most of the ''bubble'' areas that saw heavy speculative activity and razzle-dazzle financing from 2001 through 2005. But it's also happening across the country in less volatile markets where unaffordable mortgages and economic distress are producing record numbers of panic sales to investors...............

Full story: mcall.com