First, I'm assuming that you are a seller or potential seller of real estate. You would like for agents or brokers to bring qualified people to look at your property.

Pre-qualifying lookers at real estate is a very inexact science. Yet we brokers try to separate the sheep from the goats, so to speak, before we show property. We don't like to waste our time or to inconvenience you, the seller, by bringing unqualified people onto your property.

I ask lookers up front about their financial arrangements. Do they have any? Have they even thought about how they will finance the purchase of real estate. Amazingly, many would-be buyers have not even thought about it, much less have they talked to a lender about being pre-approved for a mortgage loan.

My policy is, I will at least meet someone who has not been pre-approved for a loan just to get acquainted with him or her, and to establish some rapport. But the first thing I want to know is their plan for financing the purchase of real estate. If they don't have one, they are not ready to look at real estate. At the risk of losing them to another broker or agent, I will decline to show property to someone who will not produce evidence of ability to get a mortgage loan.

Almost any mortgage lender will be glad to talk to a prospective buyer and assess that person's financial ability to buy a house or lot. Based on several criteria including a credit check and verification of income, the mortgage loan officer can pre-approve the buyer for a loan amount. Final approval of an actual loan application will depend on the buyer's meeting a number of conditions.

When I enter into a listing agreement with a seller I like for the listing agreement to specify that people who are shown the property must present evidence of having been pre-approved. With this agreement, I as the broker can explain to the prospective buyer that the seller insists on pre-approval as a condition of my showing the property. Without this agreement, I cannot refuse to show the property even though I have my doubts as to the buyer's ability to get the money.

Buyers who have talked with a mortgage loan officer should have a letter of pre-approval on the lender's letterhead stationery. They should present this to the broker or agent before looking at property. This gives the Realtor confidence that the buyer is indeed qualified, and may actually buy something.