← Your first doorLesson 2 of 3 · 1 min
Financing before shopping
Why the loan comes first, and the order that keeps your next two deals possible.
Shopping before financing is how first deals die in escrow. The pre-approval is not paperwork — it is the definition of what you can actually buy, and getting it first changes what you look at.
The order
- Twelve months of clean bank statements. Lenders read stories in your deposits; make yours short.
- A conversation with two lenders, not one. You are learning the local menu: conventional, FHA house hack, DSCR.
- Pre-approval at a number below your maximum. The gap is your margin for the expenses you have not imagined yet.
The mistake that costs two future deals
Financing the first door in a way that blocks the second and third — maxing your debt-to-income on a pretty property, or burning your one FHA slot on a deal that didn't need it. Every financing choice at Year 3 is also a choice about Years 4 and 5.
Run any candidate through the deal analyzer before the second lender call — walk in knowing your DSCR.