Making an offer on a triplex

[Daniel Luedtke]

I am trying to make an offer on a triplex, however, I need a pre-approval letter to make the offer? Is this typical? I am having issues with my DTI, as I have a seasonal rental already, on top of our primary residence mortgage. Our tax accountant did not include our rental property on a Schedule E on our returns, so I cannot use that as income to offset our rental. I believe he filed it as a second home? Trying to get my father-in-law to help out with getting pre-approved, using an LLC, with my wife and I and father-in-law, at least for this property. So, I guess I have some questions. Making offers in the future, will I always need a pre-approval letter? On portfolio loans, do they consider my personal DTI as well, or solely on the cash flow of the property? And, going forward, would you recommend taking my taxes to an accountant(a new one!) to amend them, creating a Schedule E for our rental income, so we do not have issues like this in the future. Thanks in advance!