Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers has your answer (and my reply would be the same).

Just had a looky-loo ask me to show one of my listing which is 30 minutes away. I said sure, and politelty asked for proof of funds or a pre-approval letter to be sent to me.

She said "oh we all have that, but we may not want to buy the place, we just want to SEE it". 

My reply " I understand, and I only wish to SEE your pre-approval letter your lender gave you and I'm excited to show you this wonderful home". 

"sure we'll send it by e-mail today"

3 days later....

They may not buy, but they would have a letter or know POF is a standard request if they were in buy-mode. I serve buyers, not shoppers.

"looking forward to receiving your pre-approval letter".

No further action until received and verified...

No, I think it's bogus!  Why? Because I got the same one this past week. I sent a response saying something along the lines of "Great! I look forward to seeing your pre-approval letter and talking further" and heard nothing back. 

Not likely. I got the same exact email yesterday

Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® - this is NOT a lead, it's just a scam, my guess is. I do get such emails once in a while.

I respond to them to send me a pre-approval letter (stressing the fact that it is mandatory when we write the offer). Usually, the communication ends there. (I do check with my tracking software that person DID OPEN my email.)

Uuuhm... let me think about it for a minute.... NO!

Redflag last line. Spam.

Hella,

I think this email was sent to many.  We received a similar one not long ago, and it seems fishy.  A

And the answer is NO!

I think you should respond and then with a phone conversation, you'll know....

Names are often different than email addresses.  Their own name may have been already taken, they are using a relative's email or joint email address, a business or other generic type name, etc.

Whether it is valid depends on your definition of "valid internet lead".  It seems to be valid because it came from the internet.  Whether it is one that would lead to a client or customer is a different story.

I don't reply to those online leads unless they come through my website.

Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers get's it in one - that's all you need

I received something similar only to list a home.  Just for giggles and grins I responded asking for the property address.  She responded with an address that did not belong to her. She also included a link for me to access information ... no deal. Delete. Clearly a scam. 

it is as phony as the toupe on my head  (jk)   no..not valid and i wouldnt even respond..spam it

 "Hope your weekend is great".    Scam!

If you request the pre-approval letter and it never comes, then at least you have your answer.

Interesting, will be interested in how it works out.

Meet them at your office, and as Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers stated. Problem is, Pre-approval letters can be fictitious and in the case of BoA, Conditional and no better than a Pre-Qualification Letter.

Not a valid lead unless they leave a working phone number.  I try not to ever work only with a computer. 

Valid is an elusive word when considering lead generation.  Offer to meet with them at your office to discuss their needs.

Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor® As soon as possible before the end of this year. A Hotmail address is a pretty good clue. Next!!

I'll go with Barbara Todaro on this one. Try to initiate a phone conversation and go from there!

They probably went to a recent seminar and the email template was included in the course.  Moving along...

I think that this deserves a "chat".  If they did not leave contact info, I would send them an e-mail telling them to call us at to discuss their needs.

I don't think you can evaluate a lead by two e-mail sentences.  YOU GOTTA TALK TO THEM.

People from out of the country do not understand or follow US political correctness.

Eve

I have received that email almost word for word(and more than once) and have followed up with a reply(no phone number was included).  Never heard from again -- I guess they(and others) have moved on to Carmel or Hawaii.  

I am suspect to anyone that says they are there is an immediate demand without details. Something just doesn't feel quite right.

Get the pre-approval letter and then decide. In the meantime don't use so much energy pondering this.

Hella - Based on my experience, I would say that is a scam email. I got a similar email once and actually followed up with the individual. Then they started making some odd requests, and I knew something was up.

Nobody contacts you out of the blue and tells you they want to buy a home as soon as possible, and that they are pre-approved, especially if they don't know you at all, or anything about you.

They are all valid leads until they invalidate themselves.

Reply and keep escalating the commitment or disclosure.

Your objective is to reach a position where you must TALK to the corespondent. Evey-thing else, not relevant to what normal activity should be, is to be ignored.

This should be true even if the name on the HotMail was MickeyMouse99.

It is interesting that agents ALWAYS direct buyers to get pre-approved so they know what they can afford. Doing so, proactively, results in the message being ignored. There must be a better way.

I would not  click any attachments. Sounds like a scam.

Why not to ask to provide you with that preapproval letter? I'd answer. 

I'd say this is likely a scam.  I agree with Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers!

Delete.

I wouldn't waste my time with it.

Sounds like there is more to this story.....

Yes, I think you spend a good amount of time searching and researching homes for this potential buyer.  What are they thinking?????

I get so many internet leads that do not pan out that when I do get one that becomes a client it is a total surprise.

Based on some of the terminology this one sounds suspicious, or someone who has talked to several other agents already.

This year has been the worst for me, but I've been getting more and more emails like this, and since none of them has ever panned out ... either the email is fake, or the phone number is fake, or I never get a response I have now made the determination that they are scammers and I don't want to waste my time, so if I get that "feeling" I just delete the email.  If I miss something I am confident they will either get back to me and say I never responded to their email or I just missed the boat.  Sometimes you just have to make a management decision.

I'd say "Send me proof of funds, the pre-approval letter and re-write your initial email with proper grammar, sentence structure AND capitialization!"

Run, Hella. I had a guy call me a few weeks ago. He kept telling me he was a good buyer. He sent a list of properties he was interested in. Most were undercontract, not available, or in one case, and apartment. I asked for his lender letter which he promised to provide, and I never heard from him again. 

Guess you'd have to follow up to find out!  And how many no good leads that sounded terrific have you followed up on?

Hella M. Rothwell, Broker/Realtor®  I don't think this is a valid lead.

I am glad you are sharing it.