If there are competing bidders, the person willing to accept the smallest percentage interest in the property wins the auction.

The most important player to a short sale is the actual Borrower/The Person That Defaulted.

@Jeffrey S Kowalski It's also a numbers game and is an advantage to bigger players.

Major players have planted roots here like Amazon, Google, Ford/Argo AI, Duolingo as well as dozens of smaller start-ups fueled in part by Carnegie Mellon's influence.

@Suzanne Player Those are very good links.

@Suzanne Player yes we have!

Your earnest money deposit should be held by your title company in escrow until closing or termination of the contract.The buyer has the option/right to select the title company unless it is an attorney state, in which case the buyer's attny would select who will do the title work.That being said, until you know the ropes a bit more, the earlier suggestion about speaking with a competent real estate attorney is valuable advice as per @Nicole Holcomb. 

It’s getting bad and taking down many a power player.

In large scale new construction you are competing with brand new homes from the builder and they can cut prices and offer incentives that most existing homeowners simply cannot afford to do.  

With rates super low the argument can be made that if median home prices are in the $100-125k range, if a resident can afford a government mortgage program e.g FHA with ~4% down than a mortgage on house would compete with your park demand