For around $4.7 million, you might be able to snag one gleaming, top-of-the-line luxury home in a top market. In Michigan's Macomb County, though, it bought one man 627 homes.

Bill McMachen, who owns a yacht dealership in Harrison Township, Mich., bagged that bulging real estate portfolio after accepting an enticing offer by Macomb County's treasurer: One buyer could acquire all of the county's foreclosed properties if they just paid the amount equal to all of the taxes owed on them -- $4.72 million.