<prompt> Human: Im currently in the market for a starter home in Ohio in the 150k200k range. Ive been looking and touring houses through Redfin for around two weeks and its been a discouraging process. I work 9am-5pm, so most tours have been at 5:30pm each night and Ill see between 2 and 5 houses depending on their availability. On the weekends, I go to any open houses nearby. So far Ive attempted to make offers on 3 houses, but by the time I see them, theyre already pending. An open house I saw today had 8 offers by the time I arrived. Ive been touring with an agent from Redfin and thought it would be fine, but I dont really see how working adults can manage to find a house without taking a day off to see it as soon as it goes live. Has anyone else experienced this in their search? Is this process easier with a buying agent?  <response>: This is the nature of hunting in a hot market. And as a first time buyer you havent even sniffed at the headaches and anxiety actually being under contract will throw at you with inspections, appraisals, financing... this gets worse before it gets better.Just some general thoughts:-I loved working with Redfin... on our third purchase. But if I were you, I would look into finding a different agent, probably one connected to a large local office or specialising in your area if you see The Blah Blah Team on a bunch of signs, try them. Redfin in my experience was tailored to have you in control for showings - my agent never once turned us on to a property; he was there to get us in the houses we asked to see and bounce thoughts off of. As a first time buyer you ideally want someone who is going to listen to your needs, suggest listings, and hopefully have leads to houses that arent listed yet that other agents in their office might be representing so you can get in first. They should also be working listing agents hard that they have a motivated buyer and do not accept a contract until I get them in your house.-It sounds like youre focusing on turn key properties that show well and are new to the market? That isnt surprising for first time. But are there any dated listings you could check out? The truth is you will probably walk into a house that has been on the market 60 days and youll know why within five minutes and be leaving in seven. But sometimes theyre fine houses that need some updating, got priced poorly in the beginning, and now the sellers are getting antsy to get out. And perception bias is real - they probably arent getting many people through any more. Takes pressure off you.-If you dont have a pre-approval letter from a lender, get one. It makes your offer more legitimate. You dont have to use the lender you get one from.-If you are going to be in multiple offer territory, be prepared that youll probably have one shot at it. Ive heard of people adding escalators to their offers, although Ive never seen it. IE you offer X, with a note that your offer will automatically match the highest competing offer usually highest offer plus Y to sweeten it up to a set maximum. Might be worth considering. 