Cant buy a house

[Mark Forest]

I am working with a good Realtor and I make offers well above asking.  I just lost out on another offer I made.  It will be interesting to find out the winning bid upon closing.  The house before this I made a cash offer with no contingencies and, an offer $1500 LESS than mine was accepted instead.  

Is there some "inside track" I am not aware of?  

[Matt Devincenzo]

Originally posted by @Mark Forest:

I have NO contingencies.  Many of you have mentioned a deposit.  The sellers are not even mentioning a deposit.  You simply submit a bid, they accept or deny and you close on the house. Good faith deposits are more for owner occupied homes.  I am after investment properties which close upon acceptance.  The problem is  I need to learn a secret handshake or some such thing to get my offers accepted.

The seller may not be mentioning a deposit but you said that the issue was the sellers feel that there is a possibility you will not close. So your offer of a non refundable EMD gives them what they ARE looking for. If you have no contingencies and you have put up an EMD of say 25% of the purchase price, then were you to back out the seller would be able to keep the money. That gives them the confidence that you will close.

And your statement about good faith deposits (earnest money deposit) being for OO homes is inaccurate. I have never made an offer with anything less than 5K EMD, and the last two REO purchases I have had requested 10% EMD in their counter offers.