Fun idea if you have a lot of money - buy 20 houses in a relatively small area. Sell 3 to your Uncle Larry for 40% more than you bought them for, then sell the

Fun idea if you have a lot of money - buy 20 houses in a relatively small area. Sell 3 to your Uncle Larry for 40% more than you bought them for, then sell the next 17, ratcheting each up about 5% for every 4-5 houses sold. Boom, you've now created a housing bubble and get to walk away with all the profits. If you do this over 2-3 years you might be able to get a 40% annual return, unless of course the market crashes before you can get out. I would not be surprised if this was what was happening just on a spread out and wide scale. All home sellers want the price to go up, so if the only way to make them go up is to sell at a higher price, you can prime the pump.