You need to increase your savings to at least 3 to 6 months of mortgage payments.

Stay on your current job for at least 2 years because you will have to provide 2 years of tax returns.

Try to get those collections deleted with a pay for delete.

Get all three credit scores and determine your middle score.

Continue to make payments and never be late again; most lenders require at least 12 months of no lates or missed payments.

Open up two more tradelines; most lenders require at least three reporting accounts.

However, the bad news is that most lenders will require you to pay off all your collections before closing, so if you do not have that amount then, I don't see homeownership.anytime soon.