...they might still not get the house.

After all, well prepared buyers in this market will do all of these items.  And if there are (for example) 20 showings in the first two days that a house is on the market -- and eight offers by nightfall on that second day -- it is likely that there will be several other very strong offers from very eager buyers.  And in the end, the seller can only accept one of the multiple acceptable offers.

So, when getting the call (or text or email) letting you know that your offer was not accepted -- recognize that you might have done everything possible to buy the house -- and have made a very reasonable strong offer to purchase it -- and the seller might have been very willing to accept your offer -- except that there were multiple similarly strong offers for them to consider and they only have one house to sell.

In the end, I'm not entirely sure how to console such a buyer in today's market... I guess the lesson learned is to keep trying for that next house, with the same strategies, and hope that if your offer is as strong as it can possibly be but is competing against other similar strong offer that hopefully the seller will choose you as the winning buyer the next time.

Sorry buyers, it is a somewhat heartbreaking time to try to buy a house right now in some segments of our local market.