Anytime there is a buyer’s market in real-estate, the numbers of “Lookie-Loo’s” and “fake” buyers increases dramatically.

Mortgage processing centers around the country have been slammed with pre-qualification files for clients who may not be serious about ever purchasing a piece of property.  This, in turn, slows down processing times for serious buyers. 

To help filter out the serious buyers from the applicants who aren’t serious, several banks such as Chase and B of A are now charging a $200 – $300 in pre-approval fee.

This fee, as of today, is a seperate fee from additional application fees associated with the real deal application that begins once a property is identified and a purchase contract signed.

When the new HOEPA / HERA laws go into affect on July 30th, 2009… these banks may have to suspend the collection of up front fees.  However, for the time being, clients may be facing hundreds of dollars in up front fees just to see if they are qualified buyers.

As of now, your trusted lender is not requiring an application fee for pre-approvals.   By processing much of the loan file internally, I can continue to process pre-approvals in good faith and without an up front fee. 

Working with well qualified, serious buyers, is the key to keeping this fee out of my normal work process.