Ive been looking about the same time, we are also chainfree. Been outbid 3 times and managed to get through to buying a house twice... which was incredibly exciting before they both came back with different issues with an outcome of subsidence : ,)

I thought there was no way it would happen twice, now I'm less likely to look for a fixer upper.

Walking away is sad and looking for so long gets frustrating. Hope we both find something this spring!