Housing Blues

As many of you know, we are currently trying to buy a house. It's a "buyer's market" but it is seeming increasingly difficult to actually buy a house! As many of you know, there are sooooo many foreclosures in California. But, here are some of the difficulties with the market in California:
1. The bank owned properties often have multiple offers on them. We currently have an offer on a house near BIOLA but we were the 12th offer after the house had been on the market for only a week. It has been on the market for an additional 2 weeks now and we still haven't heard anything from the bank. They really take their time, let the offers pile up, and typically choose the offers with the greatest cash down. This speaks volumes for where the banks are since it would be in their best interest (long term) to choose offers that don't have as much cash down because in the long run, with interest, they would earn more. But banks are in trouble and need the cash NOW.
2. We will have to do an FHA loan which prohibits any serious problems with the house. We looked at one house recently that had a cracked foundation, a sinking bedroom, and had 5 offers on it. Seriously??? But a house like that (even if we wanted to buy it), wouldn't be allowed under FHA requirements.
3. Many of the short sales have the residents still living in them (which makes it very awkward to view while they're home) and, if purchased, there are sometimes issues with getting the current residents to leave. Many times the courts need to get involved which can take a very long time.
4. Within our price range, there is almost always something wrong with the houses we look at, whether it be no heat/air conditioning, needing a new roof, and sometimes something even more serious. Ugh!
Needless to say, we spend a lot of time in prayer over buying a house and we feel grateful because we have a great rental house and can be content staying here as well. Just wanted to share the craziness...