With the goal to purchase a home, keep the unpaid collections in mind. They will most likely have importance to the prospective mortgage lendor.
Certainly, unpaid delinquent debt that is still within SOL represents continued peril of the prior creditor obtaining a judgment for its repayment, possibly leading to attachment of assets as satisfaction of any court judgment. A real concern for any new, prospective creditor, as it might affect your future risk in repayment of their loan.
Some mortgage lendors have a standard policy of requiring that any old, delinquent paid be paid as a pre-condition for their approval, regardless of SOL status.
That, of course, requires them to obtain knowledge of any old, unpaid delinquent debt. Exclusion of reported items from your credit report, such as old delinquencies, charge-offs, collections, judgments, etc., certainly removes their opportunity to become aware of unpaid debt via a simple pull of your CR, but that might not be the only source of their awareness. Affiliate sharing of information, or even a simple question in your application whether you have any old, unpaid debt, might lead to their awareness.
It's always best to go into a mortgage app process free of unpaid, delinquent debt. If it's still out there, you take your chances that it might bite you.
