Myth: your credit has to be perfect to buy a house

Credit does not work as a pass mark you clear or fail. It is one input among several (income, the down payment, the property, reserves), and a softer position on one can be offset by strength elsewhere. Different loan types also weigh it differently, which is why a file that does not work one way can work another.

What a lender is really reading is the pattern: what happened, how long ago, and whether it has recurred. A single bad stretch three years behind you reads very differently from an ongoing one.

Then the answer is a plan with a date on it rather than a vague "work on your credit". Usually that means which specific items to address, in what order, and what the file would look like afterwards, so you are working toward something defined instead of waiting for a feeling.

That plan is also worth having before you pay anyone to repair anything, because some of what gets sold as credit repair is work you can do yourself.