Want to Buy a House but You’re Not Ready Yet? Start Here.
Updated: Oct 25
“I want to buy a house, but I know I'm not ready yet.” I hear this all the time.
Usually someone is worried about their credit. Sometimes they don't have much saved. Sometimes they have debt they think they need to pay off first. And sometimes they don't actually know what's wrong, they just know they don't feel “mortgage ready.”
Here's the thing: you don't have to figure out how to get ready before you talk to me. That's kind of the point.
What Is Mortgage Ready?
Mortgage Ready is what I do with people who want to buy a house but either aren't ready for a preapproval yet or have no idea if they're ready. We figure that part out together.
And if you aren't ready, I'm not going to tell you to “work on your credit” and come back in six months. I hate that. What does “work on your credit” even mean? Which account? How much? Should you pay something off completely? Should you save the money instead? When should we check again?
I want you to actually know what to do. So I look at your specific situation and give you an exact, step-by-step plan. Not a generic checklist. Your plan.
First, We Figure Out Where You Actually Are
If you're still several months away from buying, we may not need to start with a full mortgage application. Sometimes I'll have you pull your free credit reports and send me a recent credit score you already have access to through your bank, credit card company or another app.
That score may not be the same score we'll eventually use for your mortgage, and that's okay. Right now I'm just trying to get an idea of where things stand.
Then we look at everything else. What debts do you have? How much are the monthly payments? What do you have saved? What's going on with your income and employment? When would you ideally like to buy?
And one of the biggest things I want to know is what you actually feel comfortable spending every month.
I can tell you what you qualify for. That doesn't mean I think you should spend it. Those are two VERY different things.
Then You Get an Actual Plan
Once I know what's going on, I'll tell you what I think we should work on and in what order.
Maybe we need to pay a credit card down to a certain balance. Maybe there's an account I specifically don't want you to pay off yet. Maybe the best thing you can do right now is leave your credit alone and build your savings. Maybe we need to wait on something. Maybe you're closer than you thought.
That's why I don't love when people spend six months trying to “fix” everything before they call me. I've seen people spend money paying things off that I wouldn't have told them to touch. Please talk to me first.
If there are six things on your credit report but only two of them actually matter to our plan, I don't want you wasting time and money on the other four. I'll tell you what I want you to work on first, what comes next and when we should look at everything again.
Sometimes I Have You Practice Your Mortgage Payment
This is one of my favorite things to do when we have some time.
Let's say you're paying $1,400 a month for housing right now and we're talking about a future mortgage payment around $2,000. We can sit there and say, “Yeah, I think $2,000 would be fine.” Or we can actually find out.
Keep paying your normal $1,400 and put the extra $600 into a savings account every month. Now you're practicing the $2,000 payment without actually having a $2,000 mortgage. And there's a bonus: that extra $600 isn't disappearing. You're building your savings at the same time.
After a few months, we know a whole lot more. Maybe $2,000 feels totally fine and you barely notice the difference. Or maybe you realize you can technically afford $2,000, but you don't particularly enjoy it. That matters to me.
I care way more about you being comfortable with your payment every month than I do about figuring out the biggest mortgage I can possibly get you qualified for.
I don't want you to buy a house and then feel like you can't do anything else. I want you to be able to take a vacation. Replace the tires when your car inevitably decides it needs all four at once. Go out to dinner. Save money. Buy your kid the ridiculous thing they suddenly need for school tomorrow.
You still need to have a life after you buy a house.
So if the math says you can qualify for one payment but you tell me another payment is where you actually feel comfortable, I'm listening to you. That's the number I care about.
Mortgage Ready Isn't Just About Credit
I also don't want this to sound like a credit-repair program, because it's not. Sometimes credit is the problem. Sometimes it isn't.
Maybe you have good credit but need to save more. Maybe your debt-to-income ratio is the issue. Maybe you're starting a new job. Maybe you already own a house and we need to figure out what we're doing with it before you buy another one.
Or maybe nothing is technically “wrong” at all. You just know you want to buy six months from now and you'd like to spend those six months getting yourself into the best position you can. Perfect. Let's do that.
What If My Credit Really Is the Problem?
Then we'll look at it.
If you're still in the planning stage, I may start by having you pull your free credit reports from all three bureaus and send me a recent consumer credit score you already have access to.
I'm looking at your balances, utilization, late payments, collections, charge-offs, inquiries, anything that looks like it may be reporting incorrectly and whatever else may actually matter for your mortgage plan. And then we make the plan.
The score you're seeing on an app or through your bank may not be the same score we eventually get on a mortgage credit report. That's normal. At this point, I'm using it to give me a general idea of where we're starting.
When you're actually ready for the mortgage application or preapproval, we'll get the credit report we need for the loan.
What If I've Already Been Turned Down?
Then I want to know why. Being denied for a mortgage once does not automatically mean, “You can't buy a house.” Why didn't the loan work? That's what I care about.
If there's a specific problem, let's identify it. If there's something we can reasonably work on, let's make a plan for it. Sometimes the plan might take a month or two. Sometimes it may take longer.
I'm not going to promise you that I can magically fix everything. But I can tell you where you actually stand and, if there's a path forward, what I think the next steps should be.
Please Don't Wait Until You're “Ready” to Talk to Me
You do not need to fix your credit first. You do not need to have a giant down payment saved. You do not need to know which loan you want. You don't even need to know when you're going to buy.
Bring me the messy version.
We'll figure out where you are now, where you want to be and what needs to happen between the two. And if you're not ready yet, that's okay.
You don't leave with “work on your credit and call me later.” You leave with an exact step-by-step plan for your situation. Then we keep working the plan.
When you're ready, we move into preapproval and buying the house. And I'm still here after you close too. I want to be the person you call when you have a mortgage question a year from now, when you're wondering if refinancing makes sense someday or when you're ready to buy the next house.
I'm Kayla Moore, a Veteran Mortgage Advisor serving buyers throughout Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas and beyond. I'm also licensed to help buyers in Oklahoma and Missouri.
If buying a house is somewhere in your future, you don't have to wait until everything is perfect to start the conversation.
Know Moore. Worry Less.
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