Hey Grady! For myself and getting into my first househack, getting preapproved was really important for me. It helped me figure out my CCC (Crystal Clear Criteria) on what I should be looking for and what I could afford. Then I could take that criteria to my realtor and have them help find exactly what we were looking for.
In terms of the realtor's preferred lender, that's up to your discretion. The opposite is also true where a lender will have an agent they recommend. Not every lender/agent works with investors/househackers so if a lender or an agent can recommend someone that has knowledge in the space and can help guide you through it. Either a lender or an agent is going to want to feel confident that you are working with someone on the other side that will actually be able to help you and will get the deal done but as long as the professional you choose has that ability there is no reason that would increase/decrease your relationship with them.
In terms of the credit check - this is important. Only do a soft credit check when getting preapproved and make sure that the lender understands that. The credit bureaus will sell your information when you do a hardpull and you could receive 50-100 unsolicited calls in a couple of days... what we always recommend is to "opt-out" of this solicitation, do the softpull to get preapproved, and then when you find a home you can do the hardpull and not get bombarded with calls. Here's the link to do that: www.optoutprescreen.com
