What is a Short Sale?

[Russell Santos]

Hi, I'm a new real estate investor and my first post on BiggerPockets, currently focusing on wholesale. My question has to do with the concept of short sale. What is it exactly? I've heard the term flown around and the concept doesn't seem to stick with me and I was wondering if someone could be so kind to explain it so I know how to spot this and use it for my future deals. Thank you in advanced!

[Greg Scott]

A short sale is where a bank will sell the property to you for less than what the current owner owes the bank.   This was a big strategy 10 years ago but with equity growth these days, not as widely used.

Short sales tend to take a very long time.  Banks aren't terribly nimble.