We are wanting to look at a couple places in Florida next week. We asked to see two properties and the realtor wants us to pre- qualify before she will show those to us. It seems that lately when we ask to look, we are always told we need to get pre qualified before they will show them. Is this normal these days. We don't want our credit checked jut to look at a house or condo!

Jack and Cheryl

@Jack Middleton

I am not a realtor but I would say yes. They don't want to waste their time if the buyers are not qualified or cannot close.

If you pre-qualify, you could request the lender that they don't pull your credit and put a disclaimer on the letter. 

Or just show the realtor with your proof of funds. 

Yes that is normal. They don't want their time wasted by people who are either not qualified or simply who just want to look at a property. If you want to actually buy a property you shouldn't care if your credit is checked as that is the main reason to actually have good credit.

Conversely if you are that intent, then suggest paying the agent  $200 to show you the property.

In our area every home has many serious buyers and no one will write an offer below asking price. To screen out casual buyers from dead serious buyers it is fairly normal people bring their preapproval letter from major lenders or local known brokers. You come to my office I will outline what it takes to be a partner.

If you want to look around you go to open homes. Those agents want to get paid are too busy to work on deals.

Hi @Jack Middleton , 

If you're serious about buying a house, get pre-qualified or pre-approved (pre-quals don't pull credit). Agents don't want to waste their time showing you a property to find out you cannot afford it. The only person that can tell you what you can afford is the lender, so how do you really know the you can afford the homes you want to look at?

They also want you pre-approved because of the increased pace of the market. In the instance that you see a place you like and want to put in an offer, your offer should have a pre-approved attached, if not, you risk losing the property. It's happened to me tons of times. 

Buyer's agents work a lot more than a listing agent. So the less work they have to put into a Buyer at the front of the transaction the better. 

Good luck, and if you're in Tampa, let me know!

Not an expert here, but getting pre-approved does not hurt your credit score.

You only get "dinged" when you actually apply for the loan.

Thanks everyone,

I guess I confused the pre-approval with the app.

We went through a loan app. approval to verify our price range a couple months ago, but we are wanting to view a couple properties in Florida, and 'their' lenders are wanting to approve us.

Perhaps I can make sure it is a pre-approval or maybe I can take the qualification from a different lender?

Thanks again everyone.

@Jack Middleton Just to start, I've never been asked to pre-qualify before being shown a property. That being said, if I'm flying out to look at properties I'm doing a lot of homework ahead of time. I'm looking at comps, rent rolls, T12s, etc. Whatever I can get my hands on. That's because I'm not going to waste my money on a plane ticket to just to stare at a property. And to make sure I'm really not wasting my time I am talking to a bank beforehand. The last property that I bought I wasn't 100% sure I would qualify for. So, before I booked my flight on United, I asked for referrals (from the agent) to local banks and I started talking to the bank I've used before as well. Why? I can *guess* what the interest rate would be but you can never trust the marketing on the radio ads. The real interest rate (for me) figures into the cash-flow and has a material impact on the ROI and, this, impacts my offer.

To summarize, no I've never been asked to pre-qualify.  But you should be trying to pre-qualify with a bank so you know the interest rate for various mortgage scenarios into your pro-forma.  If you're a cash-buyer just screen-cap your bank statement online and make sure the full account numbers are blacked out.  Yes, I've done that too.   

Hi @Jack Middleton ,

In general besides possibly wasting the agents time it also disrupts the home owner in alot of ways. They have to clean to show ready again, move the dogs and plan on eating dinner out that night (Unless it's vacant or a HUD etc). I'll show those to anyone at any time but when it comes to having an owner occupied I usually try to make sure the buyer is serious.

As far as having them pre-approve through their people that's up to you. You are allowed to choose what bank/mortgage person you go through (at least here in NY). I will recommend people who I know are rockstars in the industry. They have never pre-approved someone for me that didn't close. Their communication and follow through is amazing and the speed they get things done is great. But if a client wants to use their banker or their cousin Fred or some guy they met in a bar I don't try and change their mind. When they are calling later in the process stressing out because the mortgage commitment isn't in and due by COB, I politely remind them that it's their mortgage guy.

What part of Florida are you looking at? One of my partners just picked up his Florida license and he is going to work NY and Florida depending on the season.

@Mike Cumbie

good one.

Thanks everyone for the information.

we are looking in Jacksonville, and Haines City.

We have elderly family there and are looking for something that we can use when we have to go down there.  My wife will probably need to be there more often in the near future too.