Bad Times are Boon Times for Some in Housing (Front‪)‬

Elaine Alfiero begins most of her days before dawn in a real estate office near the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. She scrolls through hundreds of e-mails and listens to dozens of phone messages. She's sold foreclosed homes for banks and other lenders for 23 years, but she has never been busier. Seventy-five-hour work weeks are the norm, lunches a luxury. "It's hard to keep up," said Alfiero, who runs the local Long & Foster Real Estate department that sells foreclosed homes.