My husband I are gearing up to get approved for a mortgage in about a year. Here are our stats:
Our approximate yearly income is $85,000. He earns far more than I do. His credit score, according to the 3, is around 685. Mine is about 750, give or take a few points. 
We have one credit card with a relatively low balance. Our minimum monthly payment is $45. That will be paid off completely by the time we apply for the mortgage. We have one car payment of $211/month but that, too, will be paid off by the time we are applying for the mortgage. He pays a substantial amount of child support, $295 a week, but after our credit card and car is paid off, that seems to bring our DTI ratio to about 20% so in the scheme of things, I don't think that's too bad. Now that I am thinking about it, though, he does have a small student loan and we pay about $50 on it a month. That will not be paid off when we apply.
We are up to date on all of our bills and make timely payments. We have approximately $6,000 in savings right now, and about $8,000 an a 401K that we are able to cash out if necessary, and he has about $4,000 in a 401K through his employer and I'm not sure whether or not he is able to cash that out, so I'm not taking that into account at all.
Um.....What else. Oh, yeah. Our credit. He was laid off several years ago and fell behind in child support and that went to collections (not as terrrible as it seems, he and his ex-wife went to court and agreed that the amount was going to stay the same, but go to arrears, it was very amicable and we thought it would avoid collections but alas, it WAS reported.) His arrears were paid off quickly once he was employed again. So, that is the only negative on his credit from the past, oh, 7ish years (it was three years ago and will be four years old by the time we apply). I do not have any negative marks on my credit. The reason it's only 750ish is because of it's relatively young age. I figure that by the time we apply for the mortgage, our vehicle that we have a payment on and our credit card will be paid off in full and my credit score should rise, and his should as well. I would think his would be at least 700 by that point.
Oh, and if it matters, we do rent currently and we have never been late with our rent and our landlord will attest to that if necessary.
So, that (finally!) brings me to my questions....Do we sound like we are (or will be once our current debts are paid off) in a favorable position to be approved for a mortgage? My husband is a veteran and we will be looking into VA loans, and we plan to look into the FHA loans (I would have had no idea about the FHA loans if it wasn't for this board, so thank you!). We plan to save, save, save, and if all goes according to plan, we would like to have a minimum of $15,000-$20,000 in a savings account to be used for a down payment and closing costs, and whatever other fees we incur. (I am keeping my fingers crossed for the 20K, but I think $15K might be more realistic for us.) What do loan officers like to see for savings? I mean, the more the better, obviously, but will $15,000 be adequate?
Thank you in advance!
Your more than fine for FHA, I don't know much about VA. FHA doesn't require any reserves but of course underwriters love seasoned savings. You negatives are old and not really directly credit related anyways so that's really not a big deal. Is it considered paid? If not what is being reported as the outstanding balance? Depending on the amount and lender it may be required to be paid. It looks like the only thing you need to concern yourself with is the DTI ratios. You can find those for the different loan programs at their respective sites.