We have asked for pre-approval letters for prospective buyers as long as I have been in the business, and probably way before that. In the past any lender would do, but now some sellers are being more selective. Home sellers are starting to make acceptance of an offer contingent upon a pre-approval by their preffered lender. In some cases, they are specifying that the pre-approval must be from a direct lender not a mortgage broker. Some sellers are even giving incentives to go with the lender of their choice. The most recent situation I ran into involved a little bit of all of these.
An extremely well qualified couple that I have been working with, decided to make an offer on a home I just found for them. We knew when we left the house that it would not be around long. It was priced well, in a great neighborhood, and in spectacular condition. We went straight back to my office and wrote a very strong offer. They had a great deal of cash from the sale of their home up North, and had a strong pre-approval letter from Bank of America. We submitted the offer that day, and the primary issue we received in the counter offer was "dump Bank of America" or no deal. They actually offered an incentive to use their preferred lender, and my prospects jumped on it. As it happened, their preffered lender works with FBC Mortgage. If you read my blog, you know I recommend Jeffrey Sachs with FBC Mortgage. Their company is really making a terrific name for themselves here in the Orlando market.
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