It was early last year when Joby Morris, a 33-year-old floral designer in Pacifica, heard about the housing market’s crash. Soon she and her fiancé began dreaming of finally buying a home in the East Bay. But for 18 months, Ms. Morris watched helplessly as time and again, an investor with an all-cash offer and no intention of moving into the property swooped in and snapped up a house she was bidding on.

Last year, she entered a bidding war for a home at 2208 41st Avenue in Oakland. It was listed at $149,000; she bid until the price topped $180,000, her real estate agent said. The winning bid was $265,000.

Last month, after the same thing happened a sixth time, Ms. Morris gave up.

“The idea of ownership was a falsehood,” said Ms. Morris, who was planning to finance the purchase with a loan guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. “It’s not going to happen.”

Ms. Morris and her fiancé, Justin Womack, with a combined income of more than $100,000, are among hundreds of qualified, aspiring homeowners in the Bay Area baffled and frustrated by the difficulties they face, local Realtors say. As Ms. Morris’s Oakland-based real estate agent, Charles Wright, said, “Everyday homeowner occupants are having a serious problem finding anything because there’s such a frenzy out there.”