re: House Sellers: How common is it for a seller to require proof of funds before even showing

POF or pre-approvement letter was required every time I sold a house. You should have financing in order before looking. Therefore, a pre-approvement letter should be simple.

Yes, underwriting is the issue. A banks that rhymes with Bells Cargo that I used for my last mortgage really screwed me over in underwriting and it essentially lowered the loan amount and forced me to give a larger down payment. Of course this happened at day 35 when I only had 45 days on the accepted offer letter so I couldn’t go shop around for another mortgage. Underwriting has caused other contracts to fall through locally as well. So in an active area at a price point with a lot of competition, this isn’t unreasonable. Also probably increases the chance of a 10 day close.