The best way to increase your odds is to improve your personal credit score. One of the fastest ways to boost your score is to remove (either by your own efforts or through a credit repair company) erroneous or incomplete negative information from your credit reports. Cleaning up your reports can lead to higher scores within a couple of months. Over the long run, your credit score should rise if you pay all your bills on time and you maintain relatively low levels of debt. One metric, your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio, measures your level of debt. Most lenders want to see a DTI ratio no higher than 36%, although you can get a government-backed mortgage with a DTI ratio as high as 43%. If you have credit card debt, reduce your credit utilization ratio (i.e. total credit used divided by total credit available) below 30%. Your CUR accounts for 30% of your credit score, so paying down debt can help your score rise. You may find it helpful to consolidate your credit card debt through 0% APR balance transfers, thereby letting you focus on paying off a single card balance.