“We made about $40,000 on our second house,” LaOrange said. “That’s not bad for two months’ work.”

LaOrange hedges his risk by purchasing foreclosed houses that have gone back to the banks, which gives him an opportunity to conduct home inspections before sealing a deal.

For those willing to bid sight unseen, foreclosed homes are sold at auction on courthouse steps around the Bay Area. At a trustee sale this week on the steps of San Francisco City Hall, all but one of the auctions were postponed as lenders and borrowers pursued last-minute settlements.

Despite the newfound enthusiasm for real estate, the housing market faces challenges this year. The government’s home-buyer tax credit of up to $8,000 was extended from November but will end in April. The Federal Reserve is also expected to pull back on its substantial support of housing finance.

Such concerns haven’t deterred LaOrange and Burris, who split their time between homes in Sebastopol, California, and San Francisco. The two remain focused on bank-owned houses in Sonoma County.

But they now find themselves facing off against more potential buyers vying for bank-owned properties.

“We have more competition from builders who have raised $1 million to $4 million from investors,” LaOrange said.

Some of the Bay Area’s tech workers are also shifting their focus to flipping houses, said Luis Ramirez, an attorney at Perisho Tombor Ramirez Filler & Brown, while speaking at a recent wealth-management seminar in Burlingame.

One of his clients, a team that had previously sold a software company, flipped three Bay Area houses last year, and they plan to be on the courthouse steps several times this year.

“They have cash in their pocket, knowledge of the neighborhoods they’re targeting, and an understanding of how the courts work,” Ramirez said.

The lure of profits in real estate is pulling people from other endeavors as well. San Francisco chiropractor Brian Pensack shut down his 16-year-old practice in December to spend more time investing in real estate, specifically acquiring Bay Area properties at the pre-foreclosure stage. He anticipates the country will spend the next four to five years recovering from the housing hangover.

“People will need help, and I believe investors will help pull the nation out of this crisis,” Pensack said.