Preapproval Questions From First time Home Buyer/Investor

[Jason Read]

Hi BiggerPockets Forum,

I am an up and coming real estate investor, looking to buy a home to house hack in the coming months.  I have yet to get preapproved as I was waiting for a pay increase in which I recently received.  Below are my questions.

• Should I get preapproved by the lender I plan on loaning from?
• Can I play it simple and get approved by rocket mortgage and get right to shopping?
• Is there any curveballs I should be aware of before I start this process?

I have a solid W-2 Job making around $55,000 including incentives and a credit score in the 760-780 range, I have no debt other than subsidized student loans of $12k in which I won't need to pay interest on until 6 months after I am out of college (over a year from now).  The number I expect is in the ballpark of $250,000.  Can someone sanity check that?