Their job, very specifically, is to maximize either the sales price, or the sales speed, for their seller client. 

Having that all set up in advance would give you the confidence and speed necessary to move quicker.If you have any questions about how to go about doing something like that let me know.Good luck. 

Speaking to probabilities, it does appear that most of the stories like yours seem to come out of places like that, "default" places a veteran will go for a VA loan, where they don't need to compete on pricing, communication, rate, fees, service, or speed, since they can be horrible at them all, and people will STILL call them up because "I've had my checking account there since I was a private." 

They weren't the cheapest, but the price was fair and quality and speed were high. 

I’m sure there are people who are still figuring it out, but from where I’m standing that market is in the peak phase and should be approached cautiously, especially for beginners (which, full disclosure, is also how I would describe myself!)

It is ironic that they suddenly become concerned about closing speed after sitting on these houses for months and sometimes years.

Bought it at the peak of the market, built a garage, refinanced to pull out the mortgage PMI (garage put me over 20% equity... on paper anyway).

That can speed up buying a property and gets you going as an investor.

I hope to average 350-400/night (factoring peak pricing), but not rent it all the time. 

Regular internet works fine for everyone, haven't had any complaints on speed.