My questions refer to real estate in the US.
When the buyer pays cash (i.e. without taking a loan), would it usually mean that the buyer will have to pay the whole amount in a single payment? Or is it acceptable to first pay a certain initial payment, and then the rest of the amount in monthly installments? Is the latter the same as seller financing?
What happens when the buyer uses an external lender, e.g. a bank? Does the bank pay the seller the whole sale amount at once, which makes the bank the house owner, and then the buyer has to pay the loan to the bank in monthly installments? Or does the bank pay the seller monthly payments? Who legally owns the house until the loan is fully paid?
Considering the answers for (1) and (2), why do sellers prefer no-loan (cash) buyers over loan-financed buyers, and often agree to lower the price for cash buyers? Isn't the seller paid the whole amount at once, regardless of what buyer type it is? I would assume that sellers prefer no-loan buyers, because this way the seller gets a larger amount of immediate cash. But if the buyer gets the whole amount immediately, regardless of the buyer type, this preference for no-loan buyers does not make much sense.