One Good Thing About The Recession – Buying Short Sale Real Estate With Your IRA Now MUCH Easier

Buying a short sale home has never been easy.  I’ve heard many real estate agents over the years say, “The banks take forever to get back to you, and they are completely inflexible regarding the deal.  If you have plenty of time to wait, and plenty of patience, go right ahead.”  Often I heard people say that the bank would rather hang onto that property until it falls down.

No more. Thanks in part to the troubled economy, most banks are becoming more flexible and almost eager to sell their short sales to your self-directed real estate IRA.  Catherine Wynne, real estate investor for many years said, “I’ve never seen so many short sales move so quickly through the banks.  They clearly want to get real estate off their books.”

And now the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) will hopefully make short sales even easier and faster.  The HAFA provides financial incentives: $1,500 to help relocate the borrower, $1,000 to the bank, up to $1,000 to investors who share a total of up to $3,000 of the profit with subordinate lien holders.

That last one could be especially helpful.  Often a junior lein holder will stop a transaction if they think a short sale isn’t profitable enough or profitable at all.  The extra cash may help move that short sale into fruition.

Another very helpful new aspect: Lenders must approve or deny the offer for the home within 10 business days of receiving the offer.

With your real estate IRA and mine buying up foreclosures and short sales, there will be less on the market, thereby strengthening the real estate market in general.  If your IRA can buy a short sale or foreclosure, and hold it as a rental property long enough to wait for the likely gradual upswing in the real estate market, your road to retirement can become a little shorter and a little more comfortable.

Learn more about real estate IRA rules.