Highest purchase offer doesn’t always get the house

DEAR BOB: My wife and I have been trying to buy a house in a community with great public schools but a very limited supply of homes listed for sale. During the last five months, we made four written home purchase offers but we were outbid by other buyers. As we want to buy a home before school starts, on our last purchase offer we followed your suggestion to another reader and included in our written offer that we will exceed any other legitimate purchase offer by $5,000. But the home seller accepted another offer. Our buyer's agent is very frustrated. She thinks maybe we are being discriminated against because we are Chinese. Do we have grounds for a lawsuit because the seller didn't accept our purchase offer, which was $5,000 higher than the offer accepted? – David F. DEAR DAVID: Without solid evidence of illegal racial discrimination by the home seller or the listing agent, it could be a waste of your time to pursue a discrimination claim. Purchase Bob Bruss reports online....