Detroit's Donald Trump Is Buying Up Small Lots Across the City

It's good to have cash and a shrewd ability to spot a deal in a downturn. Just ask Manuel Moroun, a businessman who has become the Detroit area's biggest private landowner. Moroun owns an estimated 600-plus parcels of real estate scattered across Michigan's Wayne County, which includes the city of Detroit -- much of which he snapped up at bargain basement prices.

His name is not as well known as Donald Trump, but Manuel "Matty" Moroun is clearly a landed force to be reckoned with in his home state.

Since 2006, Moroun has purchased roughly 200 properties according to the Detroit Free Press, many of them at the yearly county auction of tax-foreclosed properties. Moroun buys in bulk, often paying just the minimum bid of $500 a parcel. Most of the purchases are small residential lots, around 30 by 100 feet, or vacant lots, often in blighted areas.

So who is this dude and how come he doesn't have his own TV show like that other real estate mogul?