buying a short sale, mortgage short sale If you want to purchase a home and are in no particular hurry, buying a short sale could be the approach to take. You’ve probably heard about a mortgage short sale already; in case you haven’t, these are homes where the owners owe more on them than the loan amount, and the bank who owns the mortgage has agreed to sell the home for less than the mortgage amount. By buying a short sale, you are preventing a foreclosure, which will help the existing home owner maintain some kind of a decent credit rating.

Buying a short sale can take a bit longer than buying a home in a conventional market. The bank has its red tape, they may wait for better offers, or they may be understaffed, which makes the process that much longer. But if you want a great deal on a home, buying a short sale is a good place to start, especially if you are not in a big hurry. Investors are buying short sales right now, speculating on the housing market coming back within the near future. Hopefully we are nearing the bottom of the market in locations that were hard hit in the housing meltdown, and home prices will start going up.