Reasons to avoid paying with physical cash
While paying cash for property has certain benefits to obtaining a mortgage, there is no reason to hand the seller real money, and there are some significant disadvantages.
Along with the technical problems of determining how the money will be tallied (and who will count it!) and locating a seller willing to cooperate with you, there are also legal considerations about reporting the exchange of money to the IRS and protecting you as a buyer.
At the absolute least, you’ll want to get a receipt from the vendor verifying the amount of money transferred. Receipts, on the other hand, are easily lost or forgotten, and they do not provide the same level of protection as a wire transfer or cashier’s check from your bank, which can be easily tracked.
Not to add that carrying so much cash is not the safest course of action. Not only is transporting it between you and the seller risky in terms of potential theft, but you also have to keep the money until it changes hands.
If you store it in your house, you must consider calamities that may compel you to flee, such as a fire. Leaving a sizable chunk of money behind might prove an extremely costly decision.
