As an associate broker with a GRI and an ABR, I believe wholeheartedly in being an educated REALTOR. I'm only into my 5th year and look how educated I've become. I continually read how the public is so much more educated due to information provided on the internet. I think that's hogwash. I lose out many times on "listings" because I think as an appraiser is required to think. I lose out every time to the agent who gave the highest price (doesn't matter whether they've had their license 10 years or 10 days). And that's probably the case here or the agent, if they were truly educated, would not have let the process drag on for the sellers without providing protection for them. If a real estate agent believes they can best serve their client also by serving as their loan officer, then they better be well-qualified to handle that position through formal education and training of some kind. There are many good agents out there in and of themselves and there are also bad ones - those who want the transaction to succeed even at their own client's cost. The agent in the letter should have explained what a pre-qual letter was. Maybe the agent really didn't know due to lack of training and education. I have worked under two companies so far and I have yet to hear from any agents in those offices or other offices that their broker would NOT let them out into the field until they were truly educated. My preference, which I give in all transactions where I work as a buyer's agent and they are using the lender I recommend (who is trustworthy and like myself, does not want to see our clients heading for foreclosure two months after settlement), a pre-approval letter that states my client has actually been through underwriting and provided the necessary documentation for pre-approval, conditioned on contract sales price, appraisal, survey, clear title, and client not dramatically changing their financial situation between ratification and closing. Once the appraisal, survey, etc. have been done, I give the listing agent an approval/commitment letter saying my client is good except for any outstanding issues such as clear title to be presented at settlement. Pre-Qual or Pre-Approval - the title doesn't matter - it's what the letter states that matters! There is clearly not enough information in the seller's letter to diagnose the true cause of the problem.

As a principal broker I would not like to hear that our agents are representing themselves to our clients as "experts in financing", and I disagree that they should be. We are not loan officers but, as professional real estate brokers we are under the supervision of the rules and regs of our State statutes and local associations. To claim to be "experts" is misrepresentation which is in violation of our ORS 696.301(1)(Misrepresentation) The client who wrote the letter did the right thing by submitting a complaint to the local association. However, I would agree the pre-qualification letter is not worth much and should have been followed up with a loan approval letter from that loan officer. The fact this was not followed through by the agent could be considered negligent but probably not grounds for revocation of their license. As real estate agents we look to loan officers such as yourself to be the experts.