Worried about purchasing too early

[Mitchell Toney]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a property to house hack in the Columbus market in the next few months, and I'm seeing some decent opportunities come across my plate (through my own research and from my agent) and I am currently living in an apartment in Cincinnati with a lease ending in the middle of January. I've expressed this concern to others, including friends and family, but I wanted to get some advice from the BP community. If I were to make an offer on a property and have it accepted within the next month, would I be jumping the gun too early considering I am still under my lease until January? 

To add some context, I have sent in all required documentation for a pre-approval to a local mortgage broker, and I am consistently analyzing deals and learning as much as I can through BP, books, YouTube, etc. I'm just terrified by the idea of holding a property for 3-4 months without being able to live there under the conditions of an owner-occupied loan. I'm really looking for advice on the timing of my approach. Any and all thoughts are welcome. Thanks so much!

-Mitch Toney

[Dan Weber]

Do you have a relationship with your landlord? I would talk to him/her about it. Personally, as a landlord, I would rather make arrangements with my tenant to break their lease in September or October than have it end as scheduled in January. The available tenant pool in January is never as strong as any other season of the year (in my area).