Sarah Steele

My wife and I submitted a contract for the Seller's full asking price. We did not ask for concessions. We also agreed not to require the Seller to fix all of the cracks in the driveway. The Seller's agent, Sarah Steele, stated in an email reply to our agent that "the sellers will need to see in writing the following items included and verified on the Pre-qual letter BEFORE they even consider the offer: 1.            Loan Type and Program:  2.            Term:  3.            Interest Rate:  4.            Sales Price:   5.            Loan Amount:  6.            Down Payment:    The following must be Verified: 1.            We have received a signed application for the loan for the prospective applicant (s). 2.            We have reviewed the prospective applicant’s credit report(s). 3.            We have reviewed the prospective applicant’s credit score(s). 4.            We have reviewed the prospective applicant’s debt(s). 5.            Income 6.            Available cash for down payment and payment of closing costs 7.            Other Assets." She also "conveniently" personally recommended a mortgage company that would provide the information that she demanded. When I relayed these requirements to the loan officer at Quicken Loans and the loan officer at Capital One, they both said that Ms. Steele's demand was out of the ordinary. We had already been pre-approved at both institutions. Both loan officers stated that Ms. Steele's demands would require an agreed upon, executed contract first. Ms. Steele, however, continued to insist that her demands were standard before agreeing upon a contract. She then sent another email to my agent containing a sample pre-approval letter from her personally recommended loan company that contained the information that she demanded. I forwarded that email to the two loan officers that I had spoken to before at Capital One and Quicken Loans. Their responses were the same as before. Both officers even offered to speak with Ms. Steele to help her understand the process. Quicken Loans has ranked number one in J.D. Powers's Satisfaction Survey for two years in a row while Capital One ranked third in 2015. You have two industry leaders stating that Ms. Steele's demands were out of the ordinary, and yet, she continued insisting that her demands were standard. She even bad-mouthed Capital One claiming that they were notorious for their loan closings even though the J.D. Power Satisfaction Survey clearly stated that loan closing was one of the factors that was evaluated in the survey in which Capital One ranked #3. After my agent subsequently withdrew the offer, Ms. Steele sent an email insisting again that her demands were industry standard. Ms. Steele also reiterated again that if we were serious about her Sellers even maybe considering our offer, then we needed to contact the mortgage company that she had recommended at the very beginning of our contact with her. This was not the first time that she had tried to get us to contact the mortgage company that she had personally recommended. In addition, what exactly did Ms. Steele mean when she stated in an email that she would require all of that information "before the Seller could even be able to consider the offer"? It's an interesting statement that makes me wonder whether the Seller even knew what all was going on in regards to our full-priced offer.