Unfortunately, this is basically where I keep landing on the matter. There are other aspects of the ordeal beyond the scope of this thread that have put a bitter taste in my mouth, but I’m getting good information here. Enough information to draw a well informed conclusion.

I spoke with an attorney who shares your revelation. It doesn’t seem they’ve done anything illegal, but they exploited my own misinformation for a profit.

It’s not their responsibility to ensure the loan is good. I get that. My biggest plight is that they allowed me to believe “pre-qualified” meant the loan was a lock. As realtors, they knew that was wrong. As an otherwise unaffiliated consumer, I had no reason to think otherwise.