From what I've seen, a $1 collection hurts just as much as a $1,000 one does. You should wait until March, so you'll have no mortgage lates in the last 12 months. That should assist in getting an automated underwriting approval (needed for conventional financing, and will help with FHA, as without an automated underwriting approval FHA requires no more than two 30-day mortgage/installment lates in the past 24 months).
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