Repeat Loan Pre-Approvals when House Hunting?

[Natalie C.]

Hello!

I found a real estate agent and am on the hunt for our second investment property. Yay!

I am starting to look for local lenders (hoping to use a conventional loan) and would like to get pre-approved for a loan. If I understand correctly, loan pre-approvals last for 60 days. I know that in this market, digging must be done to find a cash flowing property, so it could take months to find one. But I want to be ready to act quickly when I do find the right property.

Even if you understand that you may not find the right property for many months, do you still get pre-approved for a loan? And then once those 60 days are up, then what? Get re-pre-approved? I know that your credit doesn't take a huge hit when the bank checks your credit, but I would imagine that repeat checks every 60 days are not ideal.

How should I manage this issue?