I didn’t downvote you.

Many homes are being sold very fast, and very competitively. You need to be pre-approved AND have a down payment. If you don’t put enough.down, you have mortgage insurance which makes the monthly payment go up quite a bit.

Some very competitive places homes are being bought for cash, then often remortgaged to free up the cash you put in, but, you have to have it in the first place many buyers are telling their broker/agent “If a house comes up in xyz neighborhood, and it has these basic criteria, get my bid in sight unseen”. It’s going that fast. Your normal work a day, save your pennies home buyer doesn’t stand a chance.

This doesn’t even touch on investment firms doing this at an enterprise scale.