A short sale in real estate refers to a concept whereby a lender (mortgagee) agrees to discount the amount of money owed on the loan made to a borrower (mortgagor), due to hardship on the part of the borrower.

Lets say you buy at a discount 40% below market, 420K, still wouldn't cashflow.

Does this make sense or do I need more discount to fair market value so that I at least break even before I add value by maximizing occupancy?

You should ask one of your tenants to put the tools in his basement for a small discount on the rent.

You can buy at a HUGE discount and borrow 100% of the purchase price (with a very low LTV) from the bank (if you have excellent credit, some money in the bank, a history of success, and a good relationship with a small local bank).

Like Jon says, the bank may discount the opening bid to get buyers.

I meant Private lenders as in close family, friends etc. if the numbers are right(and you are being at a deep discount), you may be able to work on terms/rates that make sense.

Wal Mart looks pretty good, you'll get an employee discount on a phone and a fax machine as well as some office supplies, maybe food too.

My question is what discount I can (generally) expect to get by making a cash purchase?

So if your overall business produces widely different investment opportunities IRR will be inaccurate because it assumes you will reinvest the interim cash flows in similar projects.Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) considers cost of capital and provides a better indication of a project's efficiency in contributing to the firm's discounted cash flow.