Finally after 16 months of working on my credit I have hit 700 credit score. Got the go ahead from my lender last week on my home loan. So I got with my realtor who has been waiting for the "I got approved" call for 6 months hehe. Well she lined up 10 houses for me to go look at and within the 4 days they all sold. I have looked in 5 cities surrounding me and everything is flying off the market as soon as they are listed. So needless to say 1.5 weeks later I have not even seen one house. I am in the Atlanta metro area. Is anyone else going through this? Homes are selling fast... 
My realtor told me it could be months, as investers are buying some of these houses sight-unseen. Also she said 25-1 is the ratio around here buyers to sellers... 
Yep. Same here. Took me 6 months to get my credit in order and as soon as I got my pre-approved letter most of the houses I wanted to see were under contract. We did get lucky and 1 on my list to look at was still on the market. We are going USDA and this one was in that area. It was PERFECT and NO ONE had a bid on it! We couldn't believe it. We put our bid in and the sellers accepted quickley because they had it on the market for a long time. It was overpriced and we happend to grab it when they lowered it. I did notice that in the Atlanta area they do sell very fast if priced right. This house had no issues, built great and passed inspection. It's a newer home too! We just go lucky. I used Zillow to find my homes and just told my agent what I wanted to see. We hope to close this week!! 
Your experience isn't uncommon in many areas of the country. I'm in the DC Metro area and alot of the houses I saw and wanted to look at went under contract within 3 days. I ended up getting lucky and got in to see the place i currently am under contract on the day after it went on the market and before the Seller's agent could present all the offers. Keep at it. Remember not to let yourself fall in love with a place while your hunting.