Jeff do you pull credit every time you pre-qualify someone. I know that if you pull credit that it can have an adverse effect on the persons credit score.  We are a credit score driven business so it would make sense not to pull a persons credit until they find exactly what they are looking for. If I am wrong please let me know.

We demand pre-approval over pre-qulaification as pre-qual lettters don't mean much here in California. Could be we just a different definition, but we won't usually accept an offer with the Buyer unless they demonstarte having been pre-approved for the loan ( subject to appraisal and house qualifying), proof of the money used for the down payment and credit reviewed and Ok'd.

Steven

we pull a tri-merge and try and get a full package

we have inhouse, underwriting, appraisials and processing, makes it a little easier

I can walk in the apprasiers office, underwriters office

a lot less run around

the key is to pull credit on someone who is serious, not tire kicking

Ha! ! !  Pre-qualification doesn't mean much in CA.

Pre-approval may not mean anything either.

In fact, I got an offer with a "Loan Commitment" that didn't mean anything either.  Never was submitted to underwritter or DT. 

No mortgage company name, phone number, etc.????

Not worth the paper. . . . . .

And they expected my sellers to accept the buyers and take the house off market. 

Lenn

we as an industry have a lond way to go education wise

where is CA are u?

Just a note to Steven ... pulling credit has a very minimal adverse effect on a buyer's score.  Multiple lenders, whether shopping for a car or a home, are supposed to be able to pull credit on the same borrower over a 2 week time frame with no additional impact on score.  I don't know how you can possibly consider a borrower qualified if you are taking their word for what their credit score is ... there are all kinds of credit scoring models out there "for sale" on credit monitoring websites.  They do not all correlate to actual FICO scores, which are what most lenders are using to determine credit worthiness.  Furthermore, a low credit score can be in error and may be overturned upon underwriting if you can demonstrate that the tradelines pulling the score down were reported in error. 

Imagine if you were a home buyer an had shopped for weeks to find just the home you'd always wanted, fallen in love with the home, written and had an offer accepted, only then to find out that you weren't qualified to purchase a hill of beans.  How crushing that would be!  Now, imagine you're the Realtor who has taken the client to lunch 3 times, driven them around for hours, burning gas and spending time with them that could have been spent with your family or other clients who were qualified to purchase ... or worse, that because your time was committed with the non-qualified buyers, you LOST a sale to some buyers that actually would have closed.  No matter which side you're on, it's heartbreaking and can all be avoided simply by spending a few minutes upfront before starting the process.