I've seen this before. Usually it's a request of a homeowner who only wants serious approved buyers going through their house, and they don't want to waste their time with curiosity seekers. If my buyers liked the house, i would send the pre-qual letter. By the way, price could have nothing to do with it. it could be their living situation. Might have eldery or disabled person living there, or they could just work from home.

That is riduculous and unnecessary on a home of that mere price.  Personally I would skip it...I see an uphill battle coming.

The only time I see this is on the multi million dollar homes...a totally different story and acceptable.

Eve

Buyer's agents should be working with pre-approved buyers in the first place.  A pre-qual is kind of worthless.  

If the client wanted to see the property, I wouldn't let the agent request stop me.  I'd wonder if there would be similar requests/roadblocks throughout the transaction as well. 

Sounds like something a MS agent would post.Almost as bad as must get key from listing office. 

I don't do anything stupid unless instructed by the client.  It would not be my decision to skip the house that would be the buyers decision.

It doesn't say you have to submit a prequal, does it? One would hope agents are bringing buyers they know are pre-approved, not just pre-qualified but we know some do not.  Sorta stating the obvious. But we see this fairly often, and a pre-approval letter or POF IS commonly required for high-end properties before touring.

That is not uncommon in my part of Florida.

So I have the lender provide a prequal for various price points, with the intent of never revealing the buyer can go higher.

I think it's not worth the hassle for one house at an average price point, there are a ton more in our area and I'd move on.....good luck to that seller!

Seen it before. Nice try. For me, it screams "NEXT"!

I'd let my clients make that decision.  I would first need their permission to send their approval letter.  I had one LA ask for a copy of my clients credit score.  That agent could kiss my back side. 

David,

I think that Jeff Pearl made a good point.  I would call the listing agent and find out.  On another note, I am so amazed at how intent intent many are here on the pre-qual letter.  No one is vehement around us on the subject.  A

I interpret that to mean they don't want a bunch of showings to buyers who just want to look at homes.

David Barr It's called following the instructions of your seller client.

I agree with you David Barr I have to provide proof of funds for home I show over $2,000,000.00 and that is understandable, but for 254K?

I have done this on very high end homes as the Sellers did not want dreamers casing their home.

We see this too, and rather stupid.   We are going to put unqualified buyers in our car?

I would assume it's a nonsensical and irrelevant inclusion, perhaps done by the listing agent at the insistence of their client.

1. There's no stated requirement for the buyer's agent to provide any proof of same to listing agent prior to arranging a showing. As long as my client wants to see the property and it's in their price range I'd make the appointment.
2. Pre-qualification is pretty useless, as many others have mentioned. 
3. At least in my local market, anyone working with a client not pre-approved is wasting everyone's time. And we're all rather protective of our time, aren't we? Thus, likely it can be assumed that all clients viewing the property are indeed already at a minimum pre-qualified so in the end it's a rather moot request.

Good morning David. Why would anyone be willing to show anyone a home that is not pre-qualified? I've seen these instructions before. 

I would not hesitate to show it to my clients. The listing agent (or the seller) just want to ensure that everyone who sees the house will be able to purchase it.

I usually prequalify my buyers before showings but I think this is a little off putting.

Crazy! but I would leave it up to buyer's decision

Oh yes I have seen this and on top of that it said that proof of funds could not come from a 401K and had to be verified by a bank officer. My buyer did skip and yes it was a home around $260,000 too. I didn't get it and the house wasn't that special and needed updating.

If the home is what my customer wants, I'll show it.

Many showing are set up the day in advance.  Many showings say 24 hour notice...would you skip them also?

I actually require a pre-qual letters for about half my listings.  If the buyers and the agent are not up to getting approved are they really interested?

I agree with Jeff Pearl and while I have seen it, I just considered it as a plea for serious, ready, willing and able buyers only. No harm in asking for that.

I would ask my buyers if they want to skip it.

 A lot of agents add it, but only agents of high end properties sometimes require ''see the money'' before arranging an appointment.

There's no problem with the added verbage. I don't take customers out on showings without a pre-approval why should a Seller be any less diligent?

David Barr I can see skipping this particular showing due to the price range but sometimes I look for quirks like this knowing the home won't be shown and won't have much competition.  This gives the buyer an opportunity to buy a home below market value at times and sometimes it is a great home too.

I've seen this before. I have clients who may be early on in the "do we want to buy" process that may have talked to a lender but have not filled out an application yet and don't want to. We've passed on looking at properties that have that requirement. If it's a high priced home I understand keeping out curiosity seekers.

Yeah, I wouldn't put that in.  I'll let non pre-qual'd buyers see it at an open house, but I won't run out of my way to let them in on appointment with agent homes.

I had a seller ask me to include this notice on the agents-only remarks section of their listing, so I did. They didn't want to have to get their home ready for a showing if the person might not be able to buy it, and believe it or not, many agents do work with buyers who haven't yet been pre-approved. That being said, I didn't ask for a copy of the pre-approval before approving a showing, nor did my sellers. 

I personally wouldn't do that, but I wouldn't restrict my buyers from seeing it.  It's not what is convenient for us, but what they want to see that matters.

Really, must be a new agent.

Unless the buyer really wanted to see the house, I would probably not send them the letter prior to the showing.  

Some sellers want to make sure that they are getting serious buyers only, no tire kickers.  Can't blame them if they are taking the time to really make the house look good.  If we are doing our job, we should be making sure that the buyers have a reasonable expectation of completing the transaction so we aren't wasting our time.  I have sellers ask me to do that.  I usually don't ask for the letter, just ask the agent.

Same as serious buyer. Sellers prefer prequalified or strong buyers only.

In our area, some sellers want you submit proof of funds in advance as a pass to get to view high end homes.... One stated if you can not prove you have $3M do not want you to view.... 

I'd skip the listing agent - not just the properties 

In our area we've seen it, and from the listing side we prefer it. It's really meant for the "newbies" who sometimes (and we've seen this) not only don't have their Buyers prequalified - but don't have a signed Agency Disclosure or Buyer Advisory!  Not intended to insult qualified Buyer Agents who know what they are doing.  And - all language in our listings is reviewed and approved by the Seller.

It could be worse and like one here to be prequalified by such and such a bank and buyer may choose bank of their choice.

I've seen it and unless my buyers are really intrested we skip it.

Move on down the road.  Not worth it

I am OK with this in theory.
On the River, we get lots of lookieloos who 'sport view' homes they have no intention of buying ever.
I rather like when consumers are kept honest. 3:)
As far as submitting a lender PQ to simply view . . . I dunno. We might pass unless we really love it.

I have also started seeing this as well on some listings.  

Much of our market has low inventory so depending on the situation, I may or may not show it.   If I could find a home(or a condo) in that price range --- many of my buyers might make an offer sight unseen -- it's a rarity.   

Unless, it is a very high end home and the seller requests it, I do not restrict showings in this manner.  

I agree with the answer by Jeff Pearl.