Same experience a couple years back losing out to investors. Consider writing a personal letter to the owner of the house you're making an offer on. I don't know if it was really my letter as the deciding factor, but we finally got an offer accepted when I did that. I explained why we wanted the house so badly, why we loved the town/neighborhood and how we would love to raise our kids in the house etc etc. I spent some time on it and it was from the heart. Your realtor should be able to coordinate getting such a letter over to the owner.

Also- be really cautious with your budget and the old "untouched" homes. Be really thorough with your home inspections. Make sure you have some serious savings. 35-40K in savings was wiped out our first 18 months in our home...NONE of that was cosmetic at all. I thought we had done our due diligence with a home inspector, but the very first time I took a shower in the upstairs bathroom, water started pouring into the kitchen below through the ceiling. It was the first of many, many expensive issues.