Congratulations to the new grads this year! Although buying a house may seem like a distant dream there are steps you can take now to buy your first home a few years after graduation.
Step One: Get Your Credit Report
You can find our your credit score right away at annualcreditreport.com. If you have yet to establish credit, you can do so right away by opening a credit card or paying your cell phone bill. To ensure the best credit score possible, make sure you always pay your bills on time, keep your balances low or at zero, and keep the cards open. The longer you maintain clean credit the better your score gets.
Learn more about credit reports & scores here: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Step Two: Collect Important Documents
When applying for a mortgage you’ll need to provide various financial and official documents from the previous two years. As you receive them, make sure to collect and save pay stubs, bank and investment statements, W-2’s, tax returns, credit card statements, student loan balances, car loans, diplomas (for applicants who attended undergraduate/graduate school in the past two years), and a list of addresses where you have lived in the last two years.
Step Three: Saving Up
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