Are you interested in buying your first home?  Interest rates are very good and home prices have “rolled back” to about 2003 levels in many parts of Silicon Valley.  So if you’re earning a living and want to purchase a home, it’s time to work up a game plan.

Where do you begin? The foundation of home buying is good credit and a downpayment.  Do you know what your credit scores are? If not, there are many online sites where you can run this info at no cost or very low cost. Here’s one: AnnualCreditReport.com.  There are three credit scoring bodies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.  Some of the “free” sites aren’t really free – so check the small print.

Often there are small errors on your credit report (such as an old bill which you did eventually pay but is showing as due or delinquent), but you can write to the agency with whatever is amiss and provide documentation to clear it up.  This can take time, though, so you want to start this process when you are not in a hurry. 

If your credit is not stellar, do some research before deciding how to fix it.  Some people mistakenly think that they should close all of their credit cards, and in fact this might not help, but rather hurt, your credit.  Inactivity on some of yourcards may also be counterproductive to your scores. And, of course, if you are over your limits, you definitely want to pay those bills down both to get a lower interest rate and to improve your credit scores.

Downpayment

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