Short Sale Purchase Compared to Traditional Purchase: Explaining the Difference

Traditional Purchases Can Be Predictable and Timely

Let me start by reviewing how (in just general terms) you buy a condominium or home in a traditional sale. You probably start out by looking at properties using a website, the local newspaper, or a local "homes for sale" magazine. At an early stage, you probably set criteria like a price limit, a location, and property features like the number of bedrooms.

Before too long, however, if you're serious, you'll look at a handful of properties in person, select one, and then make an offer.

The seller may counter your offer or may accept your offer. But at the point when you've identified a specific property, you're a few hours or days away from knowing whether you have a "deal" or not.

Once you and the seller agree, you may only need to get the bank to process your mortgage application, inspect the property, and then get the escrow company to process the transaction.

Summing up, the only truly time-consuming part of the transaction is getting the mortgage. And if you happen to be cash buyer (I know this would be unusual but I want to prove a point) you can often buy a house in a few days.

And if you do use a mortgage, you will end up with a home in a few weeks as long as the bank or mortgage broker works efficiently.

Now let me tell you how things change if you're buying a short sale property...

Next Section: Short Sale Purchase Process

Additional Information for Shortsale Investors

If you want additional information about how tax laws work for a short sale investment or for an individual running a business based on short sale investing, you may also be interested in one of my downloadable e-books shown below:

Tax laws provide active real estate investors with giant tax planning loopholes. A little upfront planning on your part could save you thousands a year...

One of the most powerful tactics for saving small business taxes is maximizing your deductions. You can literally save thousands in taxes each year.

Using an S corp for your real estate investing? To maximize savings, you need to minimize the salary paid to shareholders. But this decision is tricky.