Just had a seller request proof of funds when we requested an appointment through har.com to view their (empty) property. I've never had a seller ask this. How common is this? Seems counterproductive with regard to getting the house sold.

Proof of funds or pre-approval letter? Proof of funds would mean you are paying in cash.

The higher up you go pricing the less people care about preapproval letters, and the more they want to see evidence of actual cash in the bank whether that's from a bank statement or a screenshot of an account or or a letter from a CPA.

So proof of funds of 20% down or what?

In the 4 million plus range, yes. In the 1.5-3.0 million range I have not seen that and we do quite a bit of that even in higher value states. But, you never now what a seller will ask for I guess.

Jay@AgsReward.com said:

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In the 4 million plus range, yes. In the 1.5-3.0 million range I have not seen that and we do quite a bit of that even in higher value states. But, you never now what a seller will ask for I guess.

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I don't really need a lender for this specific request, so I just ask the client for it. I'd say it starts at around the $2M mark in Houston from what I've seen. I've also seen it for bigger ranches and it's mostly just the sellers broker vetting your buyer with you over the phone, but I have had some ask for proof of funds also. Obviously every seller and broker is different, but that's where I've seen it happen. On the farm and ranch side it's a blessing and a curse coming from Houston. Sellers brokers know that if your client is driving 2+ hours to see a ranch, it's probably not out of boredom, and folks from Houston coming to small towns to buy land carry the perception as being wealthy. But then that hurts during negotiations as well.

And yeah, there's some folks with some real coin on this website.

We are cash buyers; this house is below $1.5 million.

Based on the location of the brokers office, they're not very close to the home they're selling. I don't think they want to drive all the way up to show the house without proof of funds. We are serious buyers and if I loved the house on paper, I probably would've sent them proof of funds - but I've never been asked for this before, thought it was weird, and didn't love the house.

If it was a viable option I wouldn't let this stop me from seeing it. As others have said it isn't too terribly uncommon, but you just don't know how common it is because the requirement is usually listed on the realtor notes on har that the genpop doesn't see. Go see the house and good luck.

This is very common with lake houses. Everyone wants to see what's it's like so you have to curbed interest from people.

combat wombat said:

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Really? It's was a viable option. Some homes show better than they look in pictures on har.com. It was on a very large (6 acre) lot that was very appealing.

Sometimes you buy a house you don't love because it checks list of the boxes and has other compensating factors.

But there are other options and other sellers are not asking for this information before we can see the home.

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This. We're in our current house that we certainly "didn't love" when we first saw it. At the time we were not in a hurry to buy; just wanted to see what was out there. It was actually under contract to someone else, and needed a lot of work. That contract fell through, we made a low offer, and 4 years later it's been a great investment.

The funny part is there is certainly a divide on how to answer this. Some people think there is a game to play, 'well if the buyer has so much money they can certainly pay full price on the house!' and they won't share bank account details. On the other end, is its an FU to the seller. 'Hey jackwagon look at how much money I've got! Way more than you. Can I come see your house now?'

People are funny.

The correct answer is to have whomever does your investing for you draft a letter on professional letterhead stating you have sufficient funds to cover the price of the home.

If you do your own investing, feel free to make a fake letter head to troll em. 'Dewey, Cheatum & Howe Financial Advisors'

It is also a data collection point for the sellers agent. They know the buyer that is seeing the home which can be handy down to road.

When I bought my house a couple of years ago, I represented myself with no agent, and I just called the seller's agent to have her show me the house. She told me she needed proof of funds before she'd spend her time showing the house to an unrepresented buyer. Like somebody on this thread pointed out, I guess there are people out there who will just go look at houses for fun.

I laughed and basically told her "I get it, but I am a lawyer, I make more than half of what this house is listed for annually, and my current house is paid off. If I like the house in person as much as I like what I see online, I will make you an offer today." She was like "well…you're very convincing. I guess that's ok." I told her to write up a full price offer right after she showed it to me, and the rest is history.

In my experience, if you're serious about buying and you talk to the seller's agent to get them comfortable with you, they'll forgo some formalities.