I'm so sorry. It sounds more like a lottery where you have to be careful not to get attached to houses you decide to bid on. Personally, I've had to increase bids by a tiny amount (that I had already told myself in advance would be fin, and where the final price was still a bit under the asking price) every time, but I never failed to get a place I wanted and decided to bid on.

The closest to disappointment that I experienced in the real estate market was a place I viewed that was already under contract, but with contingencies. I later discovered that I sort-of knew the buyer, so I'm surprised that their real estate agent was still showing it. I might have really liked that one but it was a bit more than I wanted to pay--maybe if the sale had fallen through, I could have grabbed it at a price I would have been comfortable with, which would have been less than the offer that was accepted. I'm still not sure I understand why my real estate (buyer's) agent showed it to me, nor why the seller's agent was still showing it.