By Al Yoon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bruce Rose, founder of hedge fund Carrington Capital Management LLC, and a pioneer in the roller-coaster market for mortgage credit, is set for the next phase of the housing crisis: recovery.

Carrington is planning several new funds, at least one of which will step into local real estate markets expected to recover first, Rose said in a rare media interview at his office in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Another fund has already seen success with properties in Texas and Colorado, he said during the interview last week.

Rose is also rejecting lower estimated prices for his portfolio of homes that has grown through foreclosures, noting that fire sales by banks are exaggerating the market downturn. He is selling his properties one by one -- and making much more money than rivals in the same position.

"We began to sense a bottoming of the market with the new U.L administration, and began to focus on areas that we believe will recover early," he said.

The U.S. housing market is entering its third year of downturn that has triggered huge losses as homes are foreclosed and investors shun mortgages. The recession is adding to the fallout, and home prices are still sliding despite White House efforts to save 9 million homeowners with cheaper mortgages.

The pronouncement is a rare insight from Rose, 51, who left a life as aircraft mechanic and charter flight operator in 1980 to enter finance and sell ultra-safe mortgage bonds issued by Ginnie Mae, the agency that pools government-backed loans.

In 1990, Rose helped engineer the first bona fide sale of mortgage credit risk at brokerage Paine Webber. Later at Salomon Brothers, he financed the early subprime lenders.