The only issue I had was their need to postpone my original closing date to do a land survey.

@Danielle Price - There are a number of institutions that provide non recourse loans to eitherSDIRA (self directed IRA) orIRA LLC that holds your SDIRAI was going to get a loan for my SDIRA but that got postponed for a bitHere are a couple of lenders recommended by my attorney (Who is one of experts in the country on SDIRA)North American Savings Bank - Jason Zookwww.iralender.com - Roger St PierreKeep in mind that non recourse loans are generally only 50-60%LTV and you need to keep usually 10-15% reserves in your acct at all times.

Then you have capital gains taxes, which is generally 15% (for non millionaires anyhow) if you hold onto it for a year or more, otherwise it could be taxed at income tax rates. 1031 exchanges are a popular way of postponing capital gains taxes, but they won´t be of much use to you as a non US national.  

You would have to close with cash or private/hard money that could close in 4-5 days or so too, you would need the homeowners permission or get them to order their payoff from the foreclosing attorney as well.This is all assuming the owner has equity in the property, if they dont, you could try REALLY hard to get a postponement for them to consider a short sale.  

That said you can still sell a rental and do a 1031 exchange sou you postpone the tax gain.

Now, though, we are facing postponing trips in order to save for an investment property.

I need to personally think of some strategies on how to sell these 2 pieces of land.2) The closing on our Chicago Rd, Dolton property has been postponed by 1 week because the money of the buyer did not get cleared by her bank due to the holidays (and because the buyer came in so late in the game, our attorney Kurt was not able to get the documents prepared in time).

If so, are there any strategies to postpone the taxes (like 1031 exchange, etc.).

The clerk can postpone the proceedings up to 60 days if the borrower tries to work something out.

Don't postpone it if you really do want to delve into the REI world, or in the blink of an eye it will be years down the line, and you'll be wishing you did at a younger age.