I respect Carl Icahn's wisdom about markets so much that I have a Google Alert set up so that every time he is in the news I get an email about it immediately. In the Heard on the Street column in today's Wall Street Journal [subscription], we get a glimpse of the timeless investment philosophy that has catapulted Icahn to number 24 on the Forbes list of richest Americans. With his investment in WCI Communities (NYSE: WCI), a luxury real estate developer in Florida, many observers started to wonder if old Carl, at 69, had finally lost it. As the Wall Street Journal said, "Amid softening home prices, rising foreclosures and turmoil in the mortgage industry, billionaire financier Carl Icahn is making a contrarian bet on a troubled pocket of the U.S. housing market: high-end Florida condominiums."

Mr. Icahn explained it this way: "My investment philosophy, generally, with exceptions, is to buy something when no one wants it. We made a fairly large investment and took control of several energy companies seven or eight years ago when they were way down. Housing is somewhat analogous."

Icahn noted the medium- and long-term factors that should help Florida real estate: aging baby boomers looking to head south to warmer temperatures. Amid daily news of trouble in the real estate market, Icahn's investment in WCI is about as controversial as it gets. But there have been very few times in history when betting against Carl Icahn was a good way to make money.