Pre-approval letterI will start making offers on places in the next week or so. 

Meaning you could technically start the process ahead of time, get a pre-approval letter and start making offers, then once things draw near move in with family for a month till you can close.

@Mike Girard  have you been pre-approved for financing yet?

@Joel Owens Yes, I should have mentioned the unit is pre rented.

To avoid too many 'funny feelings' at the showing I pre-qual pretty extensively over e-mail before I even make the appt.  

Is it common that in a scenario such as this that some sort of pre qualification or preapproval be submitted with the offer to purchase? 

In my market, the pre-approval is a form letter the lender provides.

There is more to that story than it appears , I watched the video , thats an old trailer , pre heat pumps .

Who is there to guide you to what you may have missed (information wise - like pre-requisites) or where you need to go next?

They have to order an appraisal, pre-lim etc and the borrower must submit a complete package.