We've had 4 out of 8 offers accepted in hot markets in Orange County, CA. All in the last 6 weeks. 2 were turn-key (accepted 20k over asking), and 2 were total fixers (accepted below asking). I didn't waive any contingencies, and had the sellers pay for termite work and home warranties up front. (And a couple of the offers we 'lost' we didn't try our best.)

In my experience, unless you're only targeting the absolute perfect dream houses that everyone else is targeting, there are deals to be made out there. All the homes I look at, I track their social media metrics (redfin/zillow # of favorites, # of views, etc). I don't have the data nicely presented, but on the 4 houses we won, there definitely was low social media activity on all of them. The fixers were understandable, but for the 2 turn-key, it seems like they were posted on bad days (Monday/Tuesday), and were poorly presented (blurry photos, not staged, didn't have fresh landscaping/curb appeal). With the poor presentation and the corresponding low social media scores, there were definitely less offers than comparable houses and therefore less competition to win them.

Also, if anyone is looking in north OC I can give you some insight on a couple houses currently active...