HELP!! Pre Qualified vs. Pre Approved

[Karen Margrave]

Trying to help a residential buyer. Most of the listings now want pre approval over pre qualification for obvious reasons, and prices are going up daily here. However; on pre approval, the buyer wants to know if she goes to two different lenders how would it affect credit score? (one lender doesn't do FHA loans, the other does - but from discussions it seems they won't loan as high as the FHA lender) Also, how long is pre approval good for ? She's concerned with credit score getting lowered, etc. Any insight, and advice will help. I usually do commercial land, development, etc. and need a little refresher on residential financing.
@Will Barnard, @Bill Gulley, @J Scott anyone? THANKS!!

[Bill Gulley]

Karen, the system recongizes people shopping for loans and does not ding thier rating. In a short period of time. Now, if she goes three places and waits two months and does 2 more, that may look like a loan was denied initially and that she is attempting to try again, or the deal fell through, but within reason, multiple inquiries won't hurt her.

Pre=approval is where processing has been completed and a committment could be made subject to noted conditions or appraisal usually. Pre-qualification is what a Realtor could do in the car on the way to a showing or a lender said, without verification, based on the information given/received which may include a credit report, the applicant is qualified...usually meaning qualified to continue with the loan process, LOL. :)