Now I'm working on refinancing my primary residence and getting pre-approved for an investment property purchase. 

Ok, so the letter was sent to you to approve.

Not advice, but when this Congress package gets approved the market might swing wild up, that would be a possible window to scram out in the green.

Tell the realtor what your daily holding costs are and say that you want to be reimbursed for them if they want you to approve an extension of the contract. 

They can then get you Pre-Approved for a loan.

Well now 3 years later I've found the dream home....got approved and am now considering just selling this house at what I owe on it.

I get a property with little to a lot of equity, all numbers make sense, and get it under contract (A contract that's approved by my attorney), go to the title company have them do what they do, I pay the owner some money/ expenses plus pay off the default amount (if there's a default amount) and have them move out, remodel it (if needed), if not then move someone in for a year or two, build more equity and collect the cash flow.

Hey I just got approved for my Heloc and am ready to invest in my first official rental property.

thanks for your response...They have the pre-approval which they forwarded to me, we are ok with the price too, but they say its contingent on appraisal and inspection.The question i have is, since they have been living in the house the last 6 years, should we be asking them to waive inspection contingency?

The approval process is based on the income/expenses of the property not your personal income.