advice for heading in the right direction regarding home ownership

[sprmario]

Your advice sucks. You will not absolutely positively get a good rate with a mid-600s credit rating. At that level you are considered sub-prime and will get a miserable rate. Every time you request credit, your credit score goes down. Requesting a loan that you know will be crappy just to get the free report is stupid when you can get the free report anyway.

Getting the "loan you want" is a stupid goal. There are all sorts of people right now that got the "loan they wanted" and are in the process of being screwed because what they wanted is not what was good for them. A lot of people have interest only loans, short intro period ARMs, and even negative amortization loans. They got the house they wanted then, and now they might lose it due to ARMs adjusting and their principal payments starting.

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Wow, this thread is filled with terrible advice. To the OP, your goal is to buy a home, right? Your goal is not to have a clean credit report. So, start by going to your bank and applying for a loan. Or, if you prefer, go to well-known mortgage companies.

a) If they don't approve you, you can get the credit report they used for free - the info will be on the denied letter.
b) If they do approve you, but you don't like the interest rate or the terms, you can still get the credit report for free.
c) If you get the loan you want, great, goal is halfway there. Now, go house shopping.


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