Long story short. I got into contract for a duplex 80k off list price with the listing agent who had me pre-approved with her preferred lender. She has a long working history with this lender and at this point I'm sensing they are very buddy buddies.

We start escrow and the lender says he can get me 5.875% with 1 point. I was okay with that until I talked to my neighbor who referred me to another reputable lender (they both got steller reviews) and he quotes me 5.5% with 1 point so a fairly significant difference. 

I first brought it up the the listing agent who claims a big part of getting my offer accepted was because I got approved by their preferred lender. She seem a little flustered at first but after telling her the other lenders name and credentials she cooled down and said ultimately it's my choice.

I did go back to the preferred lender to see if he can match and he said 5.625 with 1 point is best he can do. It nets to about $70/month difference versus the 5.5%. 

My question is it worth it starting off on wrong foot with the listing agent who is representing both sides over this difference in rate? We are just starting the process day 1 with many steps and potential hiccups along the way. I definitely want her to be in my corner.

We have a 30 day close with contingency in place but I do worry now base on the verbiage and almost like a threat in how they both responded. They both replied back it was a team effort in getting my offer accepted and made it sound like without the preferred lender they may have gone a different direction.