Buying · Resources
Ready in 90 · Part 1: Know your numbers before you know anything else.
Credit score. Debt-to-income. Savings — in three buckets. The three numbers every buyer should have on paper before they open a single listing.
The series
This is Part 1 of a 5-part series for buyers who want to buy a home in the next 90 days. Each installment covers one foundational step in the right order — so that when you're ready to write an offer, nothing surprises you. Start here and follow along each Saturday at summitkeys.org.
- Part 1Know Your Numbers— you are here
- Part 2Get Pre-Approved & Shop Lenders— coming next Saturday
- Part 3Know Your Real Budget
- Part 4Find Your Agent, Market & Wants
- Part 5Write an Offer & Get to Closing
Most buyers start their home search by looking at homes.
That's the wrong order.
Falling in love with a house before you know your financial picture puts you in a reactive position — guessing at budgets, scrambling to get pre-approved, making decisions under time pressure that should be made with clarity. The buyers who close with confidence — who make clean, competitive offers and arrive at the closing table without surprises — almost universally started not with listings but with their own numbers.
There are three numbers every buyer should know before they do anything else. This is how to find them.
This post is for general educational purposes. Specific qualification requirements, credit thresholds, and DTI guidelines vary by lender and loan program. Always speak with a licensed mortgage lender about your specific situation.
Section 1
Why numbers come before everything else.
The home search is an emotional process — and emotions make people vulnerable to poor financial decisions when they aren't anchored by clear numbers. A buyer who knows exactly what they qualify for, exactly what they can comfortably afford per month, and exactly how much cash they need to close is in a fundamentally different position than a buyer who has a general sense of their situation.
The first buyer can evaluate every home they tour against a clear financial framework. The second buyer is making it up as they go, hoping their lender confirms their assumptions and that nothing surprising shows up at closing. One buyer leads the process. The other is led by it.
Starting with your numbers is not just a financial preparation step — it's a decision quality step. Buyers who do this work first make better decisions throughout the entire process because every choice is grounded in something real.
"The buyers who close with confidence started with their finances — not a listing search. The order matters more than most people realize."
— Dana Hoyt, Summit Keys
Number 1
Your credit score.
A credit score is a numeric summary of how you've managed borrowed money over time. In a mortgage, it does two jobs at once: it determines whether you qualify for a loan program, and it determines the interest rate you'll be offered. Different score, different rate — sometimes by a full percentage point or more, which translates into meaningful money over 30 years.
There are three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — and each maintains its own independent credit record. The scores across the three don't always agree. Lenders typically pull all three and use the middle score in their qualification decision, so knowing all three matters more than knowing any single one.
You can access all three reports for free at AnnualCreditReport.com — the federally mandated free access site. When you pull them, look at four things: the actual score on each bureau, any derogatory marks (late payments, collections, charge-offs), any errors that shouldn't be there, and your total credit utilization across revolving accounts.
One timing note that matters: a lender's credit pull is a hard inquiry that can temporarily affect your score. Knowing your scores and addressing any issues before a lender pulls them is the smarter sequence. If your score needs work, you want that information now — not two weeks into an application.
Local Realtor Note
"I tell every buyer I work with to pull their credit before we do anything else — before they talk to a lender, before they look at listings. If something needs to be addressed, the earlier you find out, the more time you have to fix it."
— Dana Hoyt, Summit Keys
Number 2
Your debt-to-income ratio.
Your debt-to-income ratio — usually shortened to DTI — is the percentage of your gross monthly income that goes toward minimum debt payments. Lenders use it as a straightforward measure of how much additional monthly obligation you can responsibly carry. A mortgage payment is one more obligation, and DTI is how the lender decides whether adding it still leaves room to breathe.
To calculate it: add up all of your minimum monthly debt payments — car loans, student loans, credit card minimums, personal loans, and any other recurring debt obligation. Divide that total by your gross monthly income (before taxes, not take-home pay). The result is your DTI.
Different loan programs have different DTI thresholds, and those numbers change with market conditions. What matters at this stage is knowing your own number. If you're in a strong position, the pre-approval conversation is smooth. If you're not, you have real options — pay down specific debts, consider a co-borrower, or look at a different loan program — but only if you know where you actually stand.
Buyer Reality Check
"Calculate this yourself before any lender does. If your DTI is higher than you expected, you have options — pay down specific debts, consider a co-borrower, look at different loan programs. But you need to know the number first."
Number 3
Your savings — in three buckets.
The most common savings mistake buyers make is treating their savings as a single number equal to the down payment. There are actually three distinct cash needs in a home purchase, and underestimating any one of them creates problems at — or after — closing.
Bucket 1
Down payment
The percentage of the purchase price you contribute upfront. Conventional loans: 3–20%. FHA: 3.5% minimum. USDA and VA: as low as 0% in eligible cases. This is what most buyers think of when they think about "saving to buy."
Bucket 2
Closing costs
Fees and prepaids due at closing — origination, title, appraisal, recording, prepaid interest, insurance, property tax escrow. Typically 2–5% of the loan amount and due the same day as your down payment.
Bucket 3
Post-closing reserves
What's left in savings after you close — for repairs, maintenance, and the first months of homeownership. Most planners recommend two to three months of housing expenses in reserve. Not required, but heavily protective.
A buyer who has saved enough for the down payment but not closing costs will face a problem at the closing table. A buyer who covers both but closes with zero reserves is deeply exposed to the first unexpected expense. All three buckets, or the plan is incomplete.
"Three buckets — not one. Down payment, closing costs, and reserves. Know all three numbers before you start looking at homes. Buyers who calculate only the first one are frequently surprised at the closing table."
— Dana Hoyt, Summit Keys
For a deeper walkthrough of Bucket 1, see the down payment options for Utah buyers. For Bucket 2 in detail, the closing costs guide covers what's actually on a Loan Estimate — and what's negotiable.
Section 5
What to do with your three numbers.
Once you know your credit scores across all three bureaus, your DTI, and your savings broken into three buckets, you have a clear picture of your actual starting point. That picture will fall into one of a few honest scenarios.
Everything looks strong.
Credit is solid, DTI is manageable, and savings cover all three buckets with margin. You're ready for Part 2 — getting pre-approved and shopping lenders.
Credit needs work.
Your score is lower than desired, or there's a derogatory mark to address. The next step is a focused credit improvement period before you apply. Improving the score first is almost always worth the wait in rate and qualification.
DTI is too high.
Monthly debt obligations are too large relative to income. Options include paying down specific high-balance debts, increasing income, looking at lower-price properties, or exploring loan programs with different DTI thresholds.
Savings are short.
You have enough for one or two buckets but not all three. This gives you a specific target and a specific timeline: if you're $8,000 short and can save $1,500 a month, you know when you're ready.
"Knowing the gaps is the whole point of this step. You can't build a plan around a problem you haven't identified — and you can't fix what you haven't measured."
— Dana Hoyt, Summit Keys
Section 6
A simple checklist to complete this week.
- Pull credit reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com
- Record your score from each bureau (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion)
- Review each report for errors or derogatory marks
- Calculate your monthly minimum debt payments (total all recurring obligations)
- Divide total debt payments by gross monthly income to find your DTI
- Calculate your total available savings
- Divide savings into three buckets: down payment, closing costs estimate, remaining reserves
- Identify your gaps — what's ready, what needs work, what the specific target is
"This checklist takes an afternoon. The buyers who complete it before anything else are in a fundamentally stronger position than those who skip it."
— Dana Hoyt, Summit Keys
Frequently asked
Ready in 90 · Part 1 FAQs.
Continue the series
All parts of the Ready in 90 series live on the resources page.
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Part 1 is the first in the series.
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Part 2 — Get Pre-Approved, Not Pre-Qualified
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Legal & financial note
This post is for general educational purposes only. Specific credit score requirements, DTI thresholds, loan program eligibility, and savings requirements vary by lender, loan program, and individual financial situation. Always speak with a licensed mortgage lender about your specific circumstances before making decisions about a home purchase. Dana Hoyt is a licensed Realtor® in Utah with Summit Keys Real Estate and Real Brokerage, LLC — The Perry Group.
