Llove Letters

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The seven-bedroom, three-bath house in this city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood had once been someone’s American Dream. But at a recent auction of about 100 foreclosed houses and condos, it was just Property No. 20 — and drawing no bids from a roomful of buyers despite its bargain-basement price. “Any interest in this home at $7,000?” fast-talking auctioneer Renee Jones asked the crowd. “If not, we’ll move on.” Among the investors was Thomas Smith, 48, who paid $16,000 for a five-bedroom, three-bath home in Englewood. Later, when the nine-bedroom, four-bath property that David Kosak’s boss had been trying to sell for a year went under the hammer,…