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You did WHAT with the pre-qual letter I gave you!?

By Karen Burket

Mortgage and Lending with Bank of Oregon a division of Willamette Valley Bank

November 28, 2011 05:50 AM

I'm really surprised an agent did this with a pre-qualification letter I provided back in September. I had borrowers pre-approved for a $130,000 purchase price and a $110,000 loan amount and they put in an offer on a short sale. The agent specifically asked me NOT to mention a dollar amount in my letter, so, I merely suggested they were "pre approved for the purchase price and loan amount they requested", along with other verbiage specific to the approval.

After several weeks, the agent advised me that the current lien holder needed a letter specifying the dollar amount of the purchase price and loan amount. That certainly didn't surprise me, so I obliged and edited my September letter with the needed information.

Flash forward to last Monday. I get a message from both the agent and the borrower letting me know that since there was still no response from the bank with regard to the short sale, they made an offer on another property. While not uncommon, they neglected to contact me to see just how much they qualified for. Come to find out they made a $160,000 offer ($30,000 higher than previously approved for), but, oh, it gets better! The agent used my original September dated pre-approval letter...the one that DIDN'T SPECIFY a dollar amount (per her request) and submitted that letter with this new offer!

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM! My borrowers don't qualify for that amount! I couldn't believe the agent would have done that! Fortunately, the offer wasn't accepted! I can only imagine the horror should I have had to explain that to the listing agent!

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John McCormack, CRS

Albuquerque Homes Realty - Albuquerque, NM

Honesty, Integrity, Results, Experienced. HIRE Me!

Always a bad apple. It's not right, it's not fair but we deal with bad apples on a regular basis.

Nov 28, 2011 06:23 AM

Karen Burket

Bank of Oregon a division of Willamette Valley Bank - Medford, OR

Valley Mortgage Grou, Conventional, FHA, VA, mortgages

Bad apple indeed, John. I just didn't want to be a sour grape, either! Have a great day! :-)

Nov 28, 2011 07:06 AM

Kat Palmiotti

eXp Commercial, Referral Divison - Kalispell, MT

Helping your Montana dreams take root

Yikes! Shame on the borrower as well! They would have known what amount they were qualified for - what in the world made them think they would be qualified for the higher amount? I hope you requested they return the letter or at least make it clear they absolutely cannot use that again! Agh.

Nov 28, 2011 07:25 AM

Jim Patton

Aspire Home Real Estate 209-404-0816 - Modesto, CA

Realtor - Stanislaus ,Merced, San Joaquin Counties

Karen - That agent is certainly not looking out for the buyers best interests. Why would he even waste his time writing and submitting an offer with out knowing if the buyers could qualify for the higher amount?

Nov 28, 2011 07:31 AM

Hey there, Kat! Wanna know something funny? The borrower is a licensed agent as well. Go figure. :-/ I made it VERY CLEAR in correspondence to both of them that the credit report pulled previously had expired and that I was unable to issue a CURRENT approval letter until they allowed me to re pull credit; which they haven't done. I may just wash my hands of this one! Thanks for the visit and have a great day!

Nov 28, 2011 07:33 AM

Jim...I really don't get it. Honestly, I think it's just an attempt to get an offer ACCEPTED! What good does that even do? It's bound to lead to disappointments for sure, and in the end, would have made ME look like the bad guy. Not only that, but to me this action flys in the face of ethical. Thanks for chiming in on this one! Have a great day!

Nov 28, 2011 07:39 AM

John M. Scott

BRE # 01442690, Scott Keys Properties - San Francisco, CA

Broker / Owner San Francisco Bay Area

Karen, I've gotten in to the habit of always calling the loan broker on any offer my clients want to accept. They're (you are) an integral part of the process!

Nov 28, 2011 02:08 PM

Thanks John for being so proactive on your end! That most certainly will avoid added headaches for ALL parties involved. Hope you are having a terrific day so far!

Nov 29, 2011 05:11 AM

David Burrows

Classic Realty - Fairfax, VA

No Pressure, Just Seriously Devoted to Real Estate

I do the same as John mentioned. It is a good thing to call the Loan Officer. Thanks Karen for a great post!

Nov 29, 2011 11:24 AM

Dawn A Fabiszak

Private Label Realty ( Denver metro area, Colorado - Aurora, CO

The Dawn of a New Real Estate Experience!

OMG Karen! Now what kind of a ding-dong agent would do something like that? That is certainly a good way to get a reputation, that is, a BAD reputation with other agents!

Dec 02, 2011 08:49 AM

Jason Frey

PureWest, Inc. - Livingston, MT

That's quite the screw-up, could have been really messy. How could the buyer have not realized that they did not qualify/could not afford that amount? Is it 2005 again? Are we just handing people houses regardless of financial conditions? NINJA loans? What's going on!

Dec 12, 2011 09:17 AM

Steve and Jan Bachman

RE/MAX Gateway, Reston, Herndon, Ashburn, Sterling, Fairfax - Herndon, VA

Realtors - Northern Virginia

Yikes! Those real estate agents......

We ask the loan officer for letters that match whatever offer we send in.

Dec 13, 2011 02:00 AM

Tammy Emineth

Personal SEO - Website SEO and Real Estate Marketing - Frenchtown, MT

Content Marketer, SEO Teacher, Website Fixer

Merry Christmas!!! I hope you have had a wonderful year, better years to come and a glorious Holiday!!!

Dec 25, 2011 11:45 AM

Roy Kelley

Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

I was looking for your current posts. I hope all is going well for you.

Happy New Year!

Jan 02, 2024 04:36 AM

You did WHAT with the pre-qual letter I gave you!?

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Karen Burket

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