DO NOT invest with Chris Walters or Jim Thorpe, they are repeated and known scammers who have been issued fines by the WA State Department of Financial Institutions and are currently under investigation. 

As for SFR a pre approval letter is of value because most institutional lenders will close the loan with the main qualification being the buyer himself, as long as the property appraises for a certain value.Loans secured by commercial real estate are much more dependent on the property itself and all its characteristics, not just the appraised value.  

Quote from @John Ma: Quote from @Stephanie Lopez: Quote from @Nicholas L.: @Stephanie Lopezsaving up enough for a down payment to house hack is definitely the right step. 

The biggest issue I’ve faced is unreliable syncing with financial institutions.

This is a landing page I came across in the Boston, MA market.

I have found that you cannot go through a normal lending institution, They will lead you down the path that you will get the loan...In the end they will require documentation that is near impossible to get and it will end. 

Less families/kids more disposable money, but more liberal policies and people who are more vested in the government than other institutions.  

That said it's been a great learning process and has been successful in the markets we've been in.Recently we purchased a 6 family property in Worcester Ma.

I'm seeing some large institutional SFR/BTR investors looking in very different markets too.  

Autocratic governments tend to have even more issues because the issues are hidden from the public and nobody within those institutions wants to risk pushing them up the chain to get solved.