Cash Offer and then Refinancing

[Whitney Breedlove]

Is it a common strategy to make a cash offer in order to have a more competitive bid and then once you've purchased the home, refinance to get your money back out? I'm thinking this is what I'll need to do in order to win in this crazy market. To be completely honest, I'll have to borrow a large portion from my parents to have the cash so I'll want to be able to reassure them this is a good idea. What are the downsides to this?