Newbie from Syracuse, NY

[Alicia Maloney]

Hello all,

My name is Alicia, my Husband and I are based in Syracuse, NY. I am in Food Sales, and my husband is in landscaping/construction. We joined Bigger Pockets a couple of weeks ago and have been taking in the wealth of information it has to offer ever since. The podcasts are a huge help! I've always been interested in real estate but have never had the courage to take it any further. 

We are hoping to purchase our first property in the next few months. Currently we are focusing on buy and holds with 2 family homes, and possibly branching to flips in the future. 

Here's a question: I have reached out to a few lenders, we're looking for a conventional loan as we weren't planning on living in the home. A little background, we currently rent from my father in law and have a nice deal so we can save a little money. One lender in particular got back to us saying that they would have no problem pre-approving the amount of the loan. But because we don't own our primary residence, we wouldn't qualify for purchasing income properties. I am definitely very new to the ins and outs of real estate investing, but I didn't realize that was the norm. Does anyone have any insight on this, or other ideas that have worked for them? 

Thank you!