How do you get multiple deals under contract at one time?

Question

Hello to the BP community,

As an intro I'm a new REI closing on my first rental property in OKC this upcoming Monday and really excited to keep the momentum going.

Diving into my question/problem/confusion: During the last month of getting to the closing table, I've seen multiple amazing deals where the numbers worked out even in bad scenarios and I wanted to put offers on it.  However, I was recommended by my lender that trying to close on multiple loans at the same time is a fiasco for both the seller/buyer and ultimately blame and extra work falls on the lender(s).  As such, I couldn't get a new pre-approval letter that would allow me to make offers on the upcoming properties.

With exception to deals that could go under contract without a pre-approval letter for whatever reason, I hear and read about many out there on the podcasts and forums that they're closing on multiple deals in a month or having many deals under contract.

Is my problem specific to my lender that isn't willing to work on multiple deals at a time from different sellers or am I hamstringing myself by thinking that I should stick to using one preferred lender at a time? Note: I still have a few easy conventional loans left for future purchases and my DI ratio has plenty of buffer, so those aren't constraints.

Thank you for any advice/guidance that is to come.

Phong Thanh Ngo · Answer

Thank you @Cassi Justiz for the feedback, I'll definitely need to interview and put a few more lenders in my network if I want to scale.

Cassi Justiz · Answer

This is most likely a lender issue. I've worked with several lenders that processed multiple conventional loans at the same time. Having multiple deals going on shouldn't be an issue for most lenders as long as your DTI and other qualifying factors allow for it. The only reason I can see it being an issue would be if you were tight on the qualifying criteria or needed to factor in future rental income. A lot of conventional lenders/underwriters are not comfortable with rental property, so you might interview a few other lenders if you plan to really scale up your processes.