We are buying a house in Phoenix, and have a similar problem. Worse than that, even if you are high bidder, the sellers want a waiver of the appraisal, which doesn’t work for conventional loan buyers, but works fine for folks from CA who just cashed out on their existing home. We finally got a bid accepted, but had to go 15K above asking, with an up to $5,000 waiver of the appraisal. The house is selling for well over double of its cost in 2014.
What part of town?