Clark has a special tip for those who are interested in buying distressed real estate.

Banks are demolishing the credit scores of would-be bidders on short sales and foreclosures by running credit checks to decide if they'll be allowed to bid. Furthermore, The San Francisco Chronicle reports that people are also being told if they don't do a mortgage with the bank, then the bank won't even entertain their offer.

Don't let a bank force you as would-be bidder to allow them to run a credit check on you. Agents, beware of this abuse of your buyers and pushback if necessary.

Banks claim they're doing this to make sure they're not wasting time with a potential buyer who's not credit worthy. Well, again, that is not your problem. Don't let the bank make it your problem and push you to the point where you don't qualify because you have all these inquires on your credit.