Weapons in the Bidding War

The boat ride didn't float, either. Another bid came in higher, Ridley said.

Anita Murchie thinks a case of expensive wine distinguished her bid from others when she bought a rental property in Alexandria. Her husband, Gordon, is president of the Vinifera Wine Growers Association and executive director of the Virginia Wineries Association. Murchie said it made sense to make the offer "because we had seen that the people who were selling . . . had a small wine collection, and we were in the wine industry."

New Jersey resident Karen J. Shapiro says her recent unsuccessful bids on three houses in American University Park and Chevy Chase, D.C., proved to her that contract creativity doesn't work unless it involves the most cash.

The interior designer offered not only to waive contingency clauses and to submit escalator clauses taking her bids almost $100,000 above listing prices, but she also tried to increase her contracts by $1,800 or $3,600 at a time in the escalator clause in case the sellers were Jewish, as she is. Eighteen and 36 are references to the Hebrew word for life and considered positive.

In one case, Shapiro and her husband also submitted a letter promising to showcase a house in the upscale magazine Elle Decor.

"We wrote letters on three of the four houses we looked at," Shapiro said. But for one charming property, she described how "Elle Decor was interested in picking up the story . . . of how I'm going from being a suburban designer to being an empty nester."

Shapiro said she thought the sellers might be struck by her plans to make over their house: "People love to tell stories about their houses. . . . We thought, 'Let's just see if they're going to be impressed that I would make it absolutely fabulous.' " However, she continued, "nothing but money is enough" to sway Washington sellers.

"The buyer is really treated like garbage," she said. "It was a horrific process."

Stephen Israel, president of Buyer's Edge Co., a buyers' agent brokerage in Bethesda, said he has tried variations on gifts, including the season tickets to the symphony. That one worked.

He declined, though, to reveal what else he has tried. "The best buyers' agents out there have a number of strategies. And I'm not going to give them up," he said.

But he is among those who say that wine or waves pale when compared with the power of cash.

"I guess if you have a really great summer house, it might still work," Israel said, "but how many people have a house on the beach in Antigua?"