What Not to Do Before Buying a Home

You are ready to buy a house, and obviously you are also excited. In order to improve your chances you want to avoid at any cost the following.

• Don't be late on repaying bills or credit cards. You want to show that you are responsible and ready to pay back what you owe. Also if you can't pay something like your water bill, how likely are you to pay something more expensive like a monthly mortgage?
• Do not move your money around from one account to the other. Banks want to see all the money in your portfolio, the ones from your checking, savings accounts, money market funds, certificates of deposit, stock statements, and even you 401k.
• Don't buy any big ticket item that requires a loan like a car or even furniture. Doing so will increase you debt-to-income ration, and the higher it is the more a bank will think before giving you a loan.
• Make sure your money has seasoned, that is been at least a couple of months in your bank account. Banks will otherwise wonder where it came from.
• Be as detailed as you can on you application. Leaving loans, or other things out can result in fraud.
• Don't change jobs or even worse become a self employee. Banks want to see stability because it indicates low risk, and therefore a lower chance to default.