Advice on getting pre-approved

[Ashley Sommer]

My husband and are almost done with the first draft of our business plan. We are looking to get pre-approved for our first mortgage very soon. Since our first major REI goal is to purchase two properties this year (both multi-families - of which we would owner occupy one) we want to leverage the cash we have and try for an FHA loan for the first property. I don't know our exact credit score but our only debt is my husband's school loans. I've been employed at the same company for 6 years and we both pay our (3, total) credit cards in full each month.

I am grateful for any guidance you can provide on our questions:

1. What is the best way to find lenders/go about getting pre-approved for an FHA insured loan? I've heard doing it online is not the best bet - is that true?

2. Should we get a few different pre-approvals to compare?

3. Is there any benefit to mentioning the fact that we may be looking to apply for another mortgage this year (I believe you can only do one FHA so this may be a moot point). Is this something you would mention if you're going with conventional lending?

4. Is there any major thing we need to ask/consider/keep in mind?

This is a wonderful forum and I appreciate you taking the time to read my post and/or provide and advice.

Thank you!