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If you dont urgently need to buy a home, Pay off other loans and then take on a mortgage
The interest rate is important here. If it is low, don't pay them off. I still have loans, but they are at 1.8%, so I choose not to pay them off.
>5%
Paying off your car loans will increase the size of mortgage you can qualify for (based on DTI ratio), but could also decrease it based on months of cash reserves available. And as another poster already mentioned, paying off your car loans can actually hurt your credit score.
Play around with some credit score simulators and loan calculators to see what works best for your situation, and also note that it can take 2-3 months for your credit report to properly reflect any big changes, like opening or closing a loan.
Go to a credit union or bank mortgage loan officer and see what kind of preapproval you could get for a mortgage, including interest rates. Ask what you could do to get your rate lower. They may recommend that you save up cash for a down payment instead of paying off loans, especially if your loans are lower interest. Making payments over time can actually improve your credit score and get you a lower rate.
I would pay off the loans first, THEN buy a home.
I’ve put an extra $10k a year into my home since I bought it in 2021, so having the extra money helped out tremendously.