Short sale real estate investing doesn’t need to be complicated. I know there are people who have written entire books and courses on short sale real estate investing, but anyone can be successful once they master a few very simple tactics.

First, a definition. Short sale real estate investing is simply buying a piece of property from a lender for less than the balance owed on the property. To make this really clear, here’s an example:

Let’s say that you get a phone call from Mr. Seller, who informs you he is three months behind on his mortgage payments to Big Bank. The property has a fair market value of $150,000, and Mr. Seller has a mortgage balance of $140,000. The home is either already in foreclosure, or very nearly so. Short sale real estate investing in this case means that you, negotiating with Big Bank, would purchase the property for less than the mortgage balance of $140,000- often much less.