Interviewing Lenders/Getting Pre-Approved

[Kyle J. Cooper]

I'll be ready to purchase my first house hack in about 6-9 months and had a couple questions for y'all! Currently in Dallas, TX and looking at interviewing lenders. I was laid off in April 2020 and back to work for the same company(surprisingly at a higher pay rate) in July. I'm analyzing properties just about every day while continuing to increase my reserves for this first property. 

Should I interview a bunch of lenders to find out which one I want to get pre-approved with? One lender just told me to wait to get pre-approved when it's closer to my time of purchase, because they do a hard pull on my credit. Is this pretty typical with the pre-approval process? I have my list of questions to ask based off certain books and blog posts(House Hacking strategy, Book on Rental Property Investing, and BRRRR).

Thanks BP Family! Also, any suggestions on lenders in Texas that any of your have had success working with? Thanks!

[Stephanie P.]

Originally posted by @Kyle J. Cooper:

@Stephanie P.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, great insight as well! I plan on making more of a presence at some local meetups so I'm sure that will bring about some potential lending and networking opportunities. 

How does my time table look? Do you think I'm reaching out to lenders too soon? My thinking is to narrow down who might be a good fit before next spring and slowly start to build a relationship with them. Thanks for everything!

I say buy now before the election while interest rates are low.  If I had a crystal ball, I'd say they can't get much lower, but there's always 0 interest.