The most frustrating part is the way most houses are being sold - by tender or deadline sale.
It means we are virtually blind to what we should offer and to what others are offering.
We can use past sales and rateable values but, at the end of the day, it's down to what someone is willing to pay.
We've made two offers on deadline sale homes and lost on both.
We offered $15,000 above the rateable value on a home in Dalmore and were the lowest offer of four.
The agent said the highest offer was ''substantially more''.
The second offer, on a home in Mornington, was a split-second decision.
By the time the first open home was scheduled, the deadline date had been bought forward to that afternoon.
We literally looked at it for 10 minutes.
We offered $50,000 above the rateable value and we thought this was ''it''.
We came second.
We've been searching for about six months and have visited about 30 properties.
We're limited by our needs - or wants.
We want a warm, three-bedroom home, with a secure section, in a ''safe area'' on the hill.
We're a family of four, with two children under 5 and one income.
Our price range is between $200,000 and $300,000 and it seems, judging by the hordes of people at open homes, it's everyone else's too.
Mornington and Andersons Bay are popular with prospective buyers.
There have been homes where so many are looking, you can hardly move.
You're forever bumping into people, jostling for position and exchanging phoney pleasantries.
It's a genuine competition.
The biggest thing I've noticed is a serious lack of time to think and get organised.
By the time you've done that, the place you thought could be ''the one'' has been snapped up.
We thought buying a home would be a breeze. It's been far from it.
