Houses and houses again, again and again, oh, and again....again, and hopefully/finally again!!

So we have been through so many hoops trying to get into a house in this tough economy.  We started back in April 2008 just browsing.  By June we found a house we liked, put a bid in but got outbid by someone with cash.  Started browsing again only to find a house we really liked just next door to the first one.  Put an offer one the house, got approved by the mortgage underwriter for 190,000 only to have the offer sit on the table for 5 months until finally the house went into foreclosure.  That's not all, we were the highest bidder the whole time asking them what they wanted.  Think I'm done?  Only getting started!  The offer conditionally expired (if we wanted to withdraw) so we decided to continue our search.  Kelsey was disgusted at this point and didn’t want to look.  I was determined to stop wasting money in an apartment.  I found a house around brown & recker, great home.  It had a pool, Jacuzzi, 3 bed 2 ba home in a great neighborhood.  Go on a Saturday to look at it and bam!  Already have an accepted offer.  So I find a house down the street with an older gentleman trying his hardest to persuade us to buy his home.  Kelsey wanted nothing to do with it, so it was pretty much just me.  After a few days of bidding wars it went to high and I backed off.  That made kels very happy.  So we tried for another house that was off of Power & McKellips.  It was bank owned and I actually went to school with the person that was selling the property.  Did I mention that our realtor was my senior class president not to mention my age and I grew up with him?  Anyway,  there was another bid on the house so the seller said he would allow us to get the last say, meaning we would have the highest bid in the end.  So what happens next?  The bank decides to accept the lower offer?  That's messed up I tell you!!  So, keep on trudging is the advice I give Kelsey, be persistent and we will reap the rewards.  Next we find a house that is down the street from our apartment in the Val Vista Lakes area.  It was a nice 2 story house ready to move in.  Shoulda been a shoe-in.  Should have!!!  The bank accepts our offer (another bank owned) and takes our 2,500 earnest money for a deposit.  What happens next just makes things even worse.  The bank decides they dont want to loan us any money.  They drag us around for weeks to months because they "need more paperwork".  For heaven sakes, they know how many times I got pizza for the last 2 years!!!  What more paperwork do you need?  So  we pretty much get the "advice" to wait for two years before applying for another mortgage.  I dont think so!  Bag That!  So as a last ditch effort for this year,  our realtor has a guy in his same building renting that can do quick mortgages.  So we are currently with him working on the second house we put an offer on.  Hopefully we will/can close end of this week or beginning of next (around the 15th of Dec).  Stupid housing market.  Can't complain though, we are getting a smokin deal on a house around the corner from Mountain View.  I spent a few hours last night installing a sink and stove because the prior owners that got foreclosed on took all the cabinet doors in the kitchen as well as all the switches, light bulbs, stove, outlets, and... I think thats it.  So if we get the house I'll let you know after we sign the papers and have the keys.