Get pre-approval now or later?

[Vasily R.]

Hi all,

I'm a newbie investor trying to buy a house-hack MFH when I move to Denver in a few weeks. I want to move quickly and owner-occupy @ 20% down (don't want to do FHA). In my experience doing pre-approvals, you have to provide bank statements and pay slips for the past three months. The thing is, I have a big lump-sum payment coming up in mid-August from my (big tech) company's stock reward program.

Right now, I'm able to afford a property up to 550k, leaving a generous amount for rainy day fund, repairs, etc. In August, this big bonus will allow me to afford up to 850k, putting me in the market for bigger properties, and it makes me wonder whether I should wait until then or go forward with my pre-approval now and hope that my loan officer can take this future income into account. Time is of the essence because I'll be living around in Airbnb's and every month I wait around is a month I pay for these expensive short-term living arrangements (although cheaper these days -- thanks Corona).

Should I wait until talking to a loan officer or can they work with my situation? I don't want to do a hard credit pull only to have to do another one a month later, but I also want to know how much I can afford asap and start looking at properties in more detail. I'm already analyzing deals, but I can only do so much without an agent+loan officer working with me.

Thanks!