Are Short Sales Still A Viable Strategy For Investors? When I first started using short sale techniques to purchase properties in 2004, they were quick and easy (sort of) to complete. Today, however,http://getpolo.weebly.com/, foreclosure transactions are a huge pain in the butt!So why are these transactions worse than they were a few years ago: The process and the regulations. However, the biggest economic hurdle today is the limit on the exit strategies. Today there are really only three:1) Complete transaction and Fix and Sell or Hold and Rent (may have to hold for 30-90 days on sell-FHA) 2) Complete transaction and Wholesale to Investor (may have to hold for 30 days on sell-bank restriction) 3) Complete transaction for Service Fee Only (basically working for "grocery money")Note that there is no transactional ("paper") flipping in this list. Why? Because massive regulations and government intervention have all but eliminated the "flash cash" paper-flip exit. And this technique was universally the safest technique for the short sale investor-risk was reduced to almost zero-and profit could be large. What a concept...OK, should we dump short sale investing all together?NO, and here's why: We are finding that some of the hot foreclosure/short-sale markets have a large demand for bank owned (REO) properties in the lower price ranges. This demand has made it extremely hard to purchase these properties with sufficient discount to wholesale and/or fix and flip. Therefore,Ralph Lauren Outlet, short sale techniques can be used to get a sufficient discount and leave the investor with Exits #1 and #2, above. It has been my experience that I have to keep my average net profit per deal higher (Exits 1 and 2) to stay in business. Relying on Exit #3 is a very painful financial existence.What is the latest pain for the short sale investor-that is working its way through several states? Only licensed real estate agents can engage in the short sale process (so long unlicensed investors). Check your State legislature for current regulations.We talk much more about this in our REI mentoring program. After years of doing these calculations by hand, my partner and I have developed an online real estate software to make our lives much easier. We can now crank out offers and determine the exit strategy in seconds. To Your Success,Polo Outlet Online,Tom & Svein