Late in 2005, developer Peter Wells was in Tucson, Ariz., ready to begin selling units in a condominium with his partner Marcel Arsenault. He didn’t have to do much selling: people were camped in front of the condo office, begging to buy. It was a sign from the real estate gods, says Wells: “We started selling everything.” Not only did the pair unload their real estate portfolio; they also began betting against anything real-estate-related. They shorted homebuilders and mortgage companies. Then they took their money and skedaddled as the housing market collapsed. The news on housing in 2011 doesn’t seem to…
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