I can't believe it happened to me.

Me of all people. I'm hard nosed and not easily swayed. I've never done a single illegal drug in my life because I never let anyone talk me into trying. I've never committed a felony even when it was tempting. I spent 9 hours at a car dealership sitting in a room until they finally came down to my price.

But then, something happened this past week. My husband and I were in Dallas trying to find our new home. We had the perfect one picked out but were informed upon our arrival that it already had a contract on it. We found a second choice, and found out the next day someone else put a contract on that one. In a buyers market, it seemed that all the decent properties were getting snatched up from under us.

We found a third choice. It's in a better location and really is a better house for us. We spent hours at the real estate office arguing our offer. Actually, it was just me arguing our offer. My husband may be a business man but he has the unfortunate defect of trusting people. I don't trust certain professions. Car salesman and realtors are at the top of the list along with doctors, lawyers and health science professors.

The realtors kept pushing a high offer. I said no. This house had been on the market 60 days, no other offers and it appeared that these people needed a fast close because they had another house and a ski trip in their holiday plans. Low balling is obviously the route to go here.

I started out 30k below asking price. The realtors eye rolled but did it. Late that night, we finally left the office, my husband having faith in me.

The next morning at 9am, we got a call from the realtors. Apparently someone else, that morning, put another offer in on this house. A house that has had zero other offers and has been sitting there like a lump for two months. I found all of this fishy.

I asked the realtors if they could talk to the selling broker and get an idea of the other offer that was put into the house. They called back and said that it was a secret and no information was going to be shared with us. I got pissed and said we would meet them at 2pm. They agreed.

At 2pm we met and the realtors said, here's the story. The selling agent is not telling us what the other offer is, but she is meeting with the homeowners at 3pm, and she is advising them to take the highest offer. BUT she wouldn't tell us if we were the highest or not.

I told our agents, ok, no biggie, we'll wait for the call and if we find out we weren't the highest, we'll up our offer. They said NO, we need to make another offer NOW, or you won't get this house. I said, there is no way in hell I'm going to blindly increase my offer, this isn't ebay! They looked at me shaking their heads and my husband lost faith in me.

He said, what do we do. They said, bid 16k more. I said no, he said yes. We argued. Our realtors said, guys it's 5 minutes until 3pm, we have to call now!

My heart raced, we already lost two houses and the next one on our list sucked and would definitely be a house "we settled for". Intense glares, stares and words for the next 4 minutes.

And then it happened. I let the 3 other people at the table convince me I was the dumbass. We called bid 16k more. 2 minutes later, we got a phone call saying we won the contract. Everyone celebrated but me. I think we got swindled.

Real Estate is a tough market, real estate agents are dying, it's not just a little drought it's Saharan out there. Here is what I think happened. Our agents called the listing agent. The listing agent either made up or had a friend put in another bogus offer. Our agents convinced us to raise our price all while knowing we were winning the contract anyway. The price was driven up along with potential commissions.

I think our agents saw a young couple with an active check book and we got hosed. I know in the end the house still has to appraise but their behavior after the contract has got me thinking they need a paycheck. The inspection report came back with foundation issues and recommended a structural engineer to come out. Our realtors seem to not think this was a big deal and a quick fix. The AC/Heater inspector thinks things need replacing, they mentioned that the extended home warranty should fix that problem easy and we don't need to worry about it. Wrong and wrong. I want repairs or credits period. I'm not going to let these ladies dupe me again.