This is precisely why I didn’t suggest just getting the car and hoping for the best. 
The conversation with the loan officer isn’t a request for permission, but rather, “I’m getting a new car. Please ask the underwriter what s/he needs me to provide between now and closing to prevent any delays.”
It’s not like if you total your car two weeks before closing, your only options are to walk or take Uber everywhere, or push out the closing date. People have lives.
As someone who literally went through this in November (leased a LEAF end of Nov, closing date was late December), I will say this is true. Further, as someone who did NOT talk to the mortgage loan officer first, I would also endorse @trism’s suggestion to give the transaction coordinator or loan officer a heads up.
In my case, they freaked out a bit when i they saw the request for new credit. It was all a bit of a tempest in a tea pot, but had to scramble to get the transaction coordinator the lease agreement, proof of the remaining balance still owed (at that point it’s basically the 23 or 35 remaining payments - but you need an account balance statement of sorts) plus a statement to submit to the underwriters with an explanation of the new credit line and the credit pulls. Heads up if you have a pull from the captive, a 3rd party (ie: 700Credit) and/or other banks, you need to explain each (which is easy since you just explain its all for the same item).
In addition to DTI, apparently, they also want to confirm that with the new ‘purchase’ that your account balances still have more than enough to cover any closing costs you may have.
But the point is, just be proactive about it and it’ll save a bit of heartburn for you and your officer/coordinator.
Another +1 to this. Had a pre-approval ready and was looking for houses couple years ago when the Owners choice bonanza on 330es started in Texas. Spoke to my mortgage officer, and she said go right ahead and buy whichever car I wanted. Had a financed car on my credit report already and traded that for a 3x amount finance since Owners choice was technically a loan.
Didn’t end up closing on a house at all due to unrelated reasons but just goes to show you that each case is different, and based on your DTI profile, buying a car can be accommodated.
I would hope their model assumes a lease (regardless of months remaining) is followed by a car payment of some form… either another lease or a finance?
Surely they don’t assume a <12 month lease is followed by not having a car?
Thanks all for the feedback and the healthy home loan / credit discussion - lots of good info and advice here. We’ve decided to just transfer the car to a family member so we can keep it. Like I said from the beginning, this was solely about getting the car out of my credit to avoid issues for a home we are planning to purchase. Nothing about making money. Car is already in Stage 2 transfer with BMW FS as of today. Mods - please kindly close the thread for now. Thanks!