When to get pre-approval?

[Hunter A. Fenn]

I've been following the local market for a while now, and I recently looked at a few houses in person; two duplexes for a house-hack, and one as-is SFH for a flip. While looking at the SFH I could see the vision coming together. "If I could get the SFH as-is (realtor stated she's not willing to do any repairs, but is fine with having inspection contingencies in the contract) for $200k and do $20k in renovation it would sell for $260k easy." Where did I get $20k for the renovation? Completely out of my ***, more or less, but with some local knowledge, I've done some independent contracting myself, lived in rentals that had a flood after winter and needed a new basement and the landlord shared numbers with me, have quite a few friends in the contracting business, but more or less it was a total guess.

My question is how to get past this point? Here's where I'm at:

I do not have the money I'd need to put down. I don't want to live there for a year, so FHA is out, so I'm assuming 30% down for a conventional loan. So I'd need to get a partner (I'm working on networking and I'm attending a local REIA meeting next week).

Ok cool, so I need a partner, but a partner is gonna need WAY more information before they decide if they wanna partner up. They'll want purchase price, ARV, repair costs, closing cost estimates, exit strategies etc etc etc

To determine reno costs at a minimum I'll need to get a basement specialist (I saw some foundation cracks), a flooring specialist (carpet needs to get ripped up at a minimum), and a general contractor (kitchen needs an update and so does the "screened in porch").

Ok, how do I get all these guys into the house to give me estimates? Well, I need to get the seller under contract. Ok, but I can't do that until I'm approved for a loan right? 

I won't get approved for a $140k loan with $60k down on a $200k house when I have nowhere near $60k in any of my accounts and I won't get a partner unless I have the information I need to give them unless I get approved for the loan and get the seller under contract.

How do I get around this catch-22? I feel like I'm missing something really simple. Is this what pre-approval for a loan is for? And can I get a seller under contract with just a pre-approval?

Thanks in advance!