Financial Advisor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2021 · 7 posts · 3 votes
Hi BiggerPockets Forum,
I am an up and coming real estate investor, looking to buy a home to house hack in the coming months. I have yet to get preapproved as I was waiting for a pay increase in which I recently received. Below are my questions.
Should I get preapproved by the lender I plan on loaning from?
Can I play it simple and get approved by rocket mortgage and get right to shopping?
Is there any curveballs I should be aware of before I start this process?
I have a solid W-2 Job making around $55,000 including incentives and a credit score in the 760-780 range, I have no debt other than subsidized student loans of $12k in which I won't need to pay interest on until 6 months after I am out of college (over a year from now). The number I expect is in the ballpark of $250,000. Can someone sanity check that?
Make sure you get a few quotes from not just a lender but also a bank. Look at more than just rate/APR look at points, origination fee's etc. You need to also ask about current turn times - meaning can they close in 30 days or less. I see a lot of people daily coming from the company you named above to me because they dropped they dropped the ball and could not close on time. Realtors do not like when they have to type up another sales purchase extension addendum. Sellers right not do not want to wait and will stick to the contract dates and if you cannot close in time your going to lose not only the house but your earnest money as well.