What do you need to do to get in shape to buy a house?  There are some very important steps to take up front when you start your house hunting search.  

1.       Check your credit score - You can go online and get this done for free or you can ask a lender to do it for you. A real estate agent can give you names and number of some good local lenders that do a great job.

2.       Improve your credit if possible- After you check your check if there is anything on your record you need to improve do it before getting a loan.  Your score does set it the rate on your loan, the better the score the better the rate.  It is well worth your time to work on getting the best possible score, and don't be late on any payments. It can put you 12 months out from buying if you let a payment slip not paid on time.  You can set your payments up on auto pay which is a great way to avoid late payments.

3.       Know how much house you can afford, usually 2.5 times your annual income.  This will give you a good way to guess how much house you should look at when shopping but you should get pre-approved also.

4.       Get preapproved from a lender before house shopping- Real Estate agents can give you several names of local lenders or you may want to check with your bank. When you make an offer on a house you will want to have this step already taken care of so your offer will be a stronger offer.  The seller's agent may request a pre-approval letter if you do not submit one with the offer.