Absolutely, the properties that are priced right are going quickly. Probably half are going to foreign investors and institutional buyers.
S. Fla, fraud capital of the county, lots of dishonest agents, sellers and buyers.
Simple, listing agents have their preferred buyers already and will give the inside tip to buyers who work directly through them.
I submit very aggressive offers constantly and run into the same scenario as you. Same all cash, 10% earnest, closing within 20 days, no contingencies, same results. I have somewhat determined which agents/brokerages play these dirty games and will not make offers on their listings. Some of these are high volume REO offices. Not all agent/brokers here are shady, most of the ones I deal with are honorable and are as disgusted with the current situation as we are.
Another problem is many SS sellers in this area are not serious. Mostly they are using offers to stall foreclosures or the agents are just shopping a sale price from the bank and will ultimately buy it themselves or give it to a preferred investor. I have even had sellers agents tell me the sellers want "move-out" money on the side to get the deal, No thanks, highly questionable, possibly illegal. I am suing a seller now for specific performance on a short sale I waited 8 months for. This was an investment property and has been vacant for a while. After waiting 8 months for my low offer to be approved, we finally got an approval. I think he or his agent were shocked the bank had taken such an offer and refused to come to closing. I suspect someone has offered him side money which I will not do.
Here's another one for you: In December I made an offer on a property which directed that all offers be made online at an auction site. All offers amounts were visible except the bidders ID's were scrambled. My offer was all cash, no inspection, 10% earnest, closing in 30 days or less. At the last minute I was outbid, no biggie, being an auction site, it happens and I was OK with that. At the end of the auction I was emailed by the auction house that I would be a backup buyer in the event the winning bidder didn't close, great! Three months later, I am approached by a wholesaler I do business with about a great deal that must close in 2 weeks. Same house, 3 months later, hadn't closed yet. He was offering it to me $10,000 under my high bid and he was making his fee as well which is usually $5k. So, how the hell did this happen? I made an offer on this property at $1500 less than the high bidder to close in 30days and now 3 months later the high bidder was wholesaling the deal for less than the high bid. Out of disgust, I passed on the offer, but someone took it because I received an email from the auction site saying it had closed. I'm guessing repair credits brought it down, even though my offer had no such contingency.
Through all this BS, I still manage to find somewhat decent deals. Don't be discouraged, it just takes a bit more work.
