Avoid the Nightmare

Don't Make A Seller's Biggest Mistake - Can the person presenting the offer really perform?

A sale that falls through because the buyer could not obtain financing costs the seller valuable time and possibly thousands of dollars. Even a loan approval letter form a lender is no guarantee the loan will close.
The best possible way to prevent losses from a sale falling through is for the seller to know, before accepting the offer, the strength of the prospective buyer. This is best done by the Seller working directly with a mortgage company. Protecting yourself could be as simple as saying to a prospective buyer, "I am very concerned about taking my home off the market by accepting an offer without the assurance the sale will close. If you would not mind, I would feel a lot better if you could talk to my mortgage company whom I feel confident will reassure me of your ability to qualify for financing".
In many situations, a prospective buyer may tell the seller that they have already been pre-approved and may even have a letter from a mortgage company. The thing that the seller must realize is that the approval letter is coming from a company that is working for the buyer. Regardless of how weak the buyer may be, the mortgage company will not disclose any of this information to the seller. Every pre-approved loan will have some conditions from the underwriter. Knowing what those conditions are could be the difference of accepting one offer over another. We regret to say that the majority of sales that fall through, because of financing, are with buyers that supposedly were pre-approved.