Professor Dr. SWMBO and I are "more than casually" looking for our "downsize" property. The two of us do not need such a large home and property going forward as our older daughter is already living "independently" in town (she's a special needs adult, so isn't totally independent) and the younger, who is about to graduate from Penn State, is living at her boyfriend's parents' house more than half the time. So it's just the two of us and three birds most of the time in "this nest".

The combination of low interest rates and very little inventory has created a virtual circus of the process. To-date, we've offered and lost on three properties...bidding generously and with an escalator as well as a larger deposit. We are also pre-approved for financing without selling our current property. Yet...no dice. Today's loss was to an offer that was actually less than our maximum in the escalation clause. Why? The successful bidder eschewed inspections, something we are not willing to do. We toured this house at 15:30 yesterday afternoon and our offer was in the hands of the selling agent four hours later...the only reason it took that long was our agent having one other client appointment on his way back to his office and the paperwork servers were dead slow for some reason. (it's all done electronic these days)

We are very glad we don't have to sell first as it may be a very long time before we "score" on an attractive and appropriate situation that checks most of our boxes. Sheesh...