Hello, How far in advance should one start speaking with lenders? I would like to start looking for rental property in the spring of 2019, for buy and hold purposes.

I will go there right now getting a feel of what amount can be approved so you can come up with a budget. Sometimes you want to improve your credit score needing some time to get it up there.

@Ryan Curran like the others said start now. There are many types of lenders and they offer different terms and programs. Learn what you can so you know what you can get financed once you are ready. One of the most important issues is will you own in your own name or will you own in an entity like and LLC. That will make a big difference in the loans you can get. .

You can talk to lenders right now and tell them your price range of properties you are looking for. They will ask for some information like your income, networth, debts, etc. They will crunch in the numbers and let you know the max amount you are eligible to borrow (with higher down payment your borrowing power increases). I believe the pre-approval letter lasts for ~90 days depending on where you are borrowing from and with the interest rate that was offered. You should browse around various lenders to see the interest rate that they offer and what your maximum borrowing power is so that you can filter out the higher price ranged properties (try to know how much of a down payment you think you will have by then as well).

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When should I speak with a lender

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