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.

Or I am wasting my time trying to find a needle in a haystack (yes, I know almost every one gets cancelled or postponed.)

I do something similar with Shorts, If I haven't found a buyer or need to postpone it a little longer I'll tell the bank my funds are tied up with another property that was accepted before they did and I need a few weeks to cash out that one or line up some financing.

Since sales can postpone for months on end some of those notices will still be valid, but you'll end up wasting time.