If a seller has an option between a financed buyer with a 10 day inspection period, or a cash buyer no inspection period, is the person with the contingency going to win, or the one with no contingencies?

I know that it could take up to a year to get all the necessary documentation to start building, and I would definitely like to shorten that period up.

Before you make a buying decision make sure you understand the numbers, where they came from, how they were compiled, and what the time period over which they were compiled.  

Period.

If you add in the two to three million loan modifications that were performed where the banks only reduced the interest rate for a fixed period of time (that are now starting to default), that leaves you with around eight to ten million deals to tap into.

Here's something to think about with real estate say you put $40,000 of your own money into $100,000 property you have the potential to lose 100,000 on the property if something should go very wrong whereas with index funds are mutual funds if you put 40,000 in the most you can lose is 40,000 but in index funds are mutual funds if you keep it in there for a long period of time they will grow due to compound interest and due to the fact that the SMP has returned 11% overage history

We were advised multiple times that there could be an extremely long waiting period to hear anything back from the bank but not much about hold ups after the bank accepts. 

There are better deals to be had with the current energy downturn in Houston.You might be able to work a good Section 8 play in the area but I wouldn't take a property there even with a 15% cap rate over a 12 month period - in the long run your place is gonna get trashed.  

After all, I enjoy getting checks monthly - but it would nice to cash in a fat check once in while too.Question 2 - Networking is key to finding good deals - MLS can have some good deals periodically - but the best deals are going to come from a distressed situation that you find out about through word of mouth - and that means staying in front of your network and growing it so that you are exposed to new situations and opportunities.

If you're objective is to purchase multiple properties over a period of time, then short sales make sense.