From hookers to houses: Eliot Spitzer considers starting a housing vulture fund

They say that when one door closes, another opens. Well, it looks Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York, is going to put that idea to the test.

Word is that Spitzer is now thinking about starting an investment fund focused on distressed properties. With the housing bubble continuing to deflate and more people losing their houses every day, there certainly should be plenty of opportunities.

Of course, real estate is in Spitzer's blood. His father, Bernard Spitzer, is a New York City real estate mogul, worth an estimated $500 million. Rents in some of his buildings on Fifth Avenue are reported to be in the $50,000 range -- and that's per month. Even so, Eliot Spitzer has been quoted as saying that he wants "to take his father's real estate company to the next level."

It's not hard to imagine that Spitzer must have some pretty complicated motivations. He has a lot to make up for, and maybe by making a lot of money, even more than his father, he'll be able to redeem his name and his professional standing. He is rumored to have met with labor officials to discuss investing in the fund, so some of the profits might actually help some average working Americans rather than just the usual multi-millionaires. That would be quite a feat in itself.

And maybe by achieving a great success in real estate investment, Spitzer can redeem himself in the public eye. For now, it's impossible to mention Spitzer without searching for a punchline about high-priced hookers. Success with cheap houses may offer Spitzer a way out of that embarrassing situation.