@Jacob Stokes in my experience the only time cash isn't preferred is it's a low ball offer or there's significant sentimental attachment involved.

In other housing news, the NAHB Index, a gauge of homebuilder sentiment, fell from 86 in December to 83 in January.

The thing that is making this personal for us is that this was our first primary residence.. so maybe that has some some sentiments to that.

Agreed with the sentiment that comparables are important and you do not want to overinvest since you may not get a premium. 

I totally agree with your sentiment regarding time on market and smaller buyer pool.

I love that sentiment. 

Do you have specific questions or are you just looking for general advice/market sentiment?

There have been several articles/blogs here pertaining to 2021 areas to invest in, check those out as well.As far as cap rate - to me this is not absolutely critical in the buy or not buy decision but rather one input/indicator as part of the process simply expressing a sentiment of demand for a given sub market. 

Other measures of confidence, including the consumer-sentiment survey and daily reports by Morning Consult, also recovered in January.

Overwhelming sentiment across most of the city is anti development, which doesn't bode well for any variances.