Can get pre-qualified and wait to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan?

I am 4 months shy of being at my job for the required 2 years to be qualified for a mortgage loan. There is a condo I want to put an offer on that meets my monthly payments requirements and that is close enough to work. The only problem is I have to wait until Feb. To apply for a loan. I'm sure the condo will not stay on the market for that long, so I wanted to put in a full price offer with a closing date of Feb. Or March. It has been under a Contingent (Kick-Out) contract since March and the contingency is about to expire at the end of this month. I figured that my contingency is only 4 or 5 months compared to the current 7 months, so I may have a chance.

I was just wondering if a loan officer will give me a pre-qualificatin letter now and hold off on submitting a pre-approval application until Feb. Do banks do this?

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