[quote=Rt.66]Why on earth in today’s climate would you want to “compete” for a house?

The banks and Realtors are the only ones who can possibly come out winners.

Do a little research.[/quote]

Buyers want to buy and they have a tendency to flock to the same properties.(This adds to the fact or notion that the market is on fire).If you want to sit on the sidelines fine, but if you want to buy a house in some cases you have to compete.This is true even when it absolutey did make sense, no doubt about it, to buy a house. There will not come a magical time when houses are extremely cheap, market bottom cheap and nobody wants them!

If you think everyone who buys now is going to get killed you are probably going to be wrong. Some are, but things are in fact different. There are people buying well below their means much more so than in recent times. Some properties will not go upside down at all now…ever. A lot will but it won’t kill the buyer who can afford the house. You take a house two years ago that was twice the price it is now and that has the potential to hurt almost anyone.

My two cents on cash offers…

Cash has more potential to matter for fixers, cracked slabs, condos with poor occupancy rates and high distress ect.In other words,where several people with loans are not fighting to pay top dollar.

Cash offers are strongest with zero contingencies or at least shorter contingency periods.Raise the earnest money deposit a bit. There are plenty of flaky cash buyers so you have to look certain to perform.

The listing agent would be doing the seller a disservice by taking a lower cash offer on a turnkey property that had a lot of traffic and would close easily with any loan type.