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.