As an agent who works with Buyers and Sellers the practice of verifying all financial details is critical in today's real estate transactions.
1. Yes, when an offer is made on a listing it should be normal practice to call the financial institution who wrote the pre-approval to verify all aspects of the transaction and the quality of the buyer. As for the good faith and pre-approval being required. If the AOS includes a mortgage contingency, then it must be included with the Offer.
2. The main questions to ask may not have to do with real estate transactions at all. You should focus more on asking questions with regard to character and integrity. The best thing you can do is ask to contact previous buyer clients fro references.
I hope these answers help,
Mike Brango - Sun Sep 13 2009, 11:59