A weekend topic starting with ABC 15 in Arizona. "The intimidating home prices across the Valley are not scaring away buyers. In fact, many are emboldened by failed offers to be even more aggressive when approaching the next one. 'I feel like this is the American Dream, well it’s not that easy to attain,' said Keira Orrala. She and her husband know firsthand as they began the search for their new home last fall. While not as competitive as we’re seeing now, the well-qualified family lost out on multiple properties due to bidding wars."

"'It was like super deflating to lose something that you already envisioned, and you just don’t want to look anymore, it’s like someone broke up with you,' said Keira."

"Despite the disappointment, the couple and their realtor pushed on. They finally landed a home by October and paid over the asking price, a bet that’s since paid off. 'We literally just had it appraised and it’s a hundred thousand dollars more than we bought it for,' said Keira."

"They quickly refinanced, getting a lower rate, reducing their payment, and ridding themselves of their pesky PMI insurance. Acknowledging, if they were looking right now, they’d have been priced out of their current home. 'In a normal appreciating market, we see three to six percent a year, right now we’re seeing 18 to 24 percent a year depending on the property and market area,' said Ryan Campbell an appraiser with On Point Appraisals."

"He says for those depending on financing to get the home, offering over asking price comes with risk. He continues to see appraisals often coming in below the winning bid. A situation that puts the buyers at risk of paying the difference out of pocket to get the home as the bank will only lend up to the appraised value."

"'A lot of buyers are waiving the appraisal contingency indicating to the selling that they’re willing to pay over appraisal, which to be competitive in this marketplace seems to be happening more and more,' said Campbell."

"Most offers that are being accepted continue to waive contingencies like appraisals and inspections. The majority of those offers over the asking price, some as high as $50,000 to $100,000. This is leading people to stretch themselves thin, inevitably leading to buyer's remorse. A new survey by Bankrate.com shows two-thirds of millennials who’ve purchased a home recently have some form of buyer's remorse. Thirteen percent felt in over their heads on the amount of their mortgage payment or believe they overpaid for the home itself. Twenty-one percent said the maintenance costs surround homeownership were far more than anticipated."

"While some may be feeling a bit uneasy over their purchase others like the Orrala's are already benefitting from the investment. However, the couple says based on their experience, buyers should manage their expectations as sacrifices most likely will be needed. 'I mean even though we paid above asking for our current home, it was still worth it to us, we literally got almost everything we wanted and now our home is worth a hundred grand more than we bought it, that’s amazing, it’s like instant equity,' said Keira."

From Simcoe in Canada. "With housing prices skyrocketing, Simcoe.com reached out to five people in the know for their take on what it is that’s driving the market and leaving it increasingly out of reach for some. Developer Geoffrey Campbell: Low interest rates 'add fuel to the fire, because it means the cheap cost of money drives up the bidding price of housing.'"

"Realtor Marci Csumrik: A lack of inventory in communities to the south is sending buyers here, their offers 'coming in well over asking, and without conditions,' Csumrik said. 'It is total madness.' Properties fetch 'way beyond true market value' when multiple buyers engage in 'blind bidding.' 'Buyers don’t know what the next guy bid, and because people are so frustrated they are offering their max amount available just to get into the market without giving it serious thought,' she said."

"Mortgage broker Mark Goode likens the housing market to the pandemic-driven toilet paper craze that saw anxious shoppers emptying store shelves. 'Everybody panics, so they are overbuying because they think there is going to be a shortage of it,' he said."

"Realtor D’Arcy Hunt: The pandemic played a role in escalating prices, said Hunt, pointing to the 'COVID effect' while describing swelling interest in area waterfront properties last summer. By early 2021, with the pandemic showing no signs of slowing, the broader housing market had followed suit. 'Orillia is kind of in a unique spot,' he said. 'If you were in the north end of Barrie, it would be quicker to drive to the Orillia Costco than it would be to get to the one in Barrie on Mapleview (Drive).'"

The Courier Mail in Australia. "Determined first-home buyers Jack Davies and Tayla Jones are the unseen casualties of Queensland’s overheated housing market. They have attended more than 200 open homes, lodged a dozen expressions of interest and have been the under bidders at auction in the past year. The dedicated couple even came close to purchasing a block of land in Everton Hills which is now seen as the opportunity that got away – but they’re not giving up."

"'We looked at a block six months ago and offered $350,000 and it sold for $360,000 and it was back on the market recently for $430,000,' Mr Davies said. 'I’d we had gotten it for $360,000 back then we would be better off.'"

"Mr Davies explained they’re not just bidding against other first home buyers, but investors and those wanting to flip houses to make a quick buck in a red-hot housing market. 'We keep looking to find something of value and we are happy to buy something that needs work,' he said. 'We have looked at a couple that have needed work and they were bought by people flipping them, so that’s added competition.'"

"Recently, they bid $653,000 for a home about 10km north of the CBD that was passed in for $655,000. Not only did they miss out on the three-bedroom, two-bath home, but they were also out of pocket after paying for a pre-auction building and pest inspection. The building report showed the house required up to $50,000 in renovations and repairs and that had been factored into their price ceiling, Mr Davies said."

"'We know heaps of people that have been to an auction like the one we did and then just said ‘stuff it’ and just paid the price,' he said. 'If we had done that sometime in the last 12 months, we would have made money, so we kind of screwed ourselves by not doing that.'"

From Quartz. "Earlier this week, bitcoiners found themselves on a wild single-day ride. On social media, bitcoin believers immediately shared their opinions about what was happening and began trying to persuade others to 'hodl' on. For some, the crisis was an opportunity to further forge the social identity of the group with self-flattering, even romantic memes about a bitcoiner’s unflappability in the face of possible losses. The message: Cool cats don’t sell."

"But, as during past downturns, many traders also tried to trigger regret aversion or anticipated regret: They highlighted the extreme pain fellow bitcoin owners would feel if they sold to stem their losses and missed out on what diehards saw as the inevitable rebound on the horizon."

"Evoking the threat of future regret is not an especially original strategy. Behavioral scientists have studied anticipated regret as an influence on decision-making for decades, noticing how fear of the shame, guilt, and self-reproach that can accompany the recognition that you made a wrong turn can take over thought calculations. When it comes to financial decisions, anticipated regret can inspire poor choices, but it has also been studied as a useful intervention to boost a person’s intentions to save more for retirement or exercise regularly."

"Bitcoin’s sudden drop this week also sparked feelings of FOMO, or fear of missing out, a more commonly discussed emotional reaction that people may experience as they scroll through other people’s sunny Instagram posts or read about a promising IPO. Anticipated regret is similar to FOMO, but there is a subtle difference, says Brooke Struck, research director at The Decision Lab, a consulting firm specializing in behavioral science. FOMO affects those who are not yet involved in an opportunity, so people who do not own bitcoin and predict it will return to previous highs are at risk of succumbing to FOMO’s grip this week. (Watching bitcoin’s price drop, Struck felt a bit of FOMO himself, he admits.)"

"However, in this case, people who already owned bitcoin grappled with the possible regret of selling at the wrong time. Interestingly, since they did not have to take any action in order to appease anticipated regrets about not enjoying the rebound, and because humans also exhibit a status quo bias, it’s more likely that anticipated regret played a bigger overall role than FOMO. So, at least in theory, bitcoiners were likely more compelled to hold than non-bitcoiners to buy, Struck says."

"That bitcoiners turn to such emotional arguments is also further proof, if it was required, that buying cryptocurrency is still a relatively irrational act. Arguably, buyers are still essentially gambling. A few institutional investors have joined the fray, but their arrival has not made the market less volatile or unpredictable. In short, bitcoiners weighing their next move should at least be aware of how regret aversion can influence their decisions."

"They should also know that if they do sell and the rebound is 'epic,' they may indeed feel some remorse, but it may not be as painful as they imagine. Years ago, a study led by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert found that people consistently expect to feel more regret than they actually do, even when they were very close to 'winning.' The psychologists asked participants how much regret they thought they would feel if they lost a contest or missed a train, and later measured whether the depth of woes experienced by people matched their expectations. Fortunately, they found that we are also very good at avoiding self-blame."