My son, Nick, and I started a real-estate investment company about 10 years ago. We called it Polar Bear Holdings — a name inspired by the mascot of my high school, the since-closed North in Columbus. The next summer, we bought a house at the Franklin County sheriff’s sale. We bid too much for the house, but we had attended the previous eight sales without making a purchase because of the frenzy that real estate was causing at the time.