So close and yet so far from home ownership

[midnight armadillo]

We bid on a house last Saturday. They countered. We raised, they turned us down. We scraped together some more cash, and found out there were 2 more offers today. We outbid them both for our absolute maximum bid. Us and the seller are still $17k apart and he won't budge figuring he can carry the property until there's a higher bidder (this is after it's been on the market for a year). He's turned down 6 offers in the range we're offering and apparently doesn't yet believe the market disagrees with his pricing. C'est la vie, right?

Oh well. Time to set our sights on cheaper towns, I guess. Let me tell you - the whole "want a good school? overpay for your housing!" system of school selection sucks dead donkey balls. Why isn't every school great?