I'm in an area with lots of competition and most places seem to get an offer before I can even view them. I'm wondering if I were to crunch the numbers and find a viable place, if I can make an offer to lock in the place, and then what "loopholes" I have if later I decide the place isn't right to purchase.

For example, if my offer included a requirement for a home inspection, and that inspection comes back with 10 things noted by the inspector. Can I bail out and get all my earnest money back? What if the seller says they will fix _everything_? Can I still decline and just say that I want to back out anyway without penalty/risk of losing me earnest money?

What other protections can I put in my initial offer to protect my ability to back out?

Pretty sure an offer contingent on inspection can mean you back out for just about anything.

Even if the seller says they will fix everything in the inspection? Could I still decide to walk away with my earnest funds?

A lot of that depends on the title company and seller. If the seller agrees then it’s no issue, if they don’t and end up fighting it I think you could lose.

Why don’t you want to close if the seller is fixing everything ?

I listened to on the the BiggerPockets podcast how someone suggested that you put in an offer early so that it locks out other buyers and then use the inspection or other contingencies to back out later if you want to go with another property or the current one ends up not being as good of a deal...  I want to know what I could do to put in an offer but have back doors that would allow me to back out if the deal wasn't good (or I found another one).