How do I get my offer accepted in a competitive bidding situation?

Listen to the advice of your agent! A good buyer’s agent knows what it takes besides price to get your offer accepted. Here are some items:

Be pre-approved by your lender with a full pre-approval including income verification, credit scores, and source of funds verification. Your agent and lender can guide you here.
Write your strongest offer for price the first time! Go to your top price because you may not get a chance to receive a counter offer.
Waive the appraisal contingency. If the property appraises lower than your offer, you have to be prepared to add that difference in cash from your savings. The seller doesn’t want “an appraisal problem” especially if there are multiple offers.
Keep other contingency periods short! 10 days for inspections and 15 days for loan approval. Make sure to read all reports that seller has provided through their listing agent.
Purchase the property “as-is” without the seller doing any repairs or crediting you any money for repairs. You will still have 10 days for your own inspections, if needed, and you will have an opportunity to cancel or renegotiate if surprises come up in your additional inspections.
Always allow the seller a rent back period, if they need it at no charge. This item can be tricky and a good agent can guide you on many fine points of rent backs.
Don’t ask the seller to pay for small items like home warranties or to include appliances unless the seller has offered to do so.
Ask your agent to personally present the offer for you with the seller and listing agent, whenever it’s possible. This can be a deciding factor, many times.