Should I apply for a loan? Or continue waiting?

[LovelyDianna]

I moved to the Dallas area a couple of years back and Im sick of how the rent goes up every year. Its crazy to me. (I'm from up North, my rent stayed the same amount each month for the entire 5 years I was at my last apartment ).  So I was wondering, should I try to see about getting a home loan?  Most I would want to do is 150k on a home. My lease is up in May and Im considering going month to month until I figure out what I want to do. My boyfriend told me the home buying process is not a quick one and I should just rent a house for a year to see if I can handle it then think about buying a house NEXT year.

My scores have fell since I've added a car loan. My Transunion is 655, my Equifax is 651 and Experian is 648. (They were in the 680s until I got several hard pulls to find a car loan, then added the car loan).

I have 3 credit cards, only 1 with a balance of 1055, my total limit is 7k.

I gross about 55k a year, source of income is from work. 

My monthly debts are my car and student loans. 144 a month for my student loan and 325.49 for my car. (Student loan is 32K and Car loan is 19k)

The goal is to save moew for a down payment, I have 3k right now, I would like to have a little bit more than that, preferably 7k.

Im in Plano (75075), It will be my primary rescidence and this would be my first home.

So what do you all think? Should I try to increase my scores some more?

Thanks in advance!

[DallasLoanGuy]

getting over 660 will help a little with the rate... or the fees to buy the best rate.

you can always get pre-approved and then keep working on scores and down payment while you shop.

now or later is really a personal choice

[Anonymous]

Everything looks good. Just keep paying your bills and save, save, save, save, and save.  I joined this board to fix some credit issues that arose from a medical collections that was incorrectly billed to me that insurance was supposed to cover. I had it taken care of, but my credit took a hit and it took time for the credit files to update. I thought it would affect my interest rate, but since I was putting 20% down and had solid reserves, they had no problem giving me a low rate even though I had a 670 credit score. I didn't want to wait for my scores to update and risk losing the house. 

I was approved for 350k loan 30 year conventional at 3.625 no points paid 

moral of the story is, you are in good shape cause you don't have that much debt. Just keep doing what you are doing and keep saving as much as you can. In 6 months you will be in great shape for a house.