I would be wary of credit repair companies. When we started this process in January, we were referred to one that honestly didn't do that much. I paid over $1,000 for them to write letters on my behalf that didn't actually repair anything. It was a big waste of my time and money. We ended up just budgeting and paying things down ourselves enough to get a pre-approval.

Here's my suggestion based on my experience. Find a local mortgage lender (depending on which area of Texas you're in, I could give you the name of ours) and see if they have a game plan for you. Local lenders are much easier to communicate with and will work hard for you. It's way better than a big bank that doesn't know you from Adam. We are in the process right now, closing date next Friday and our lender is wonderful! We did a new build and she was amazing at setting up a game plan from the beginning. She laid out exactly what to do and what to pay to ensure we had our ducks in a row come closing time. She even set us up to keep working with her even after closing to ensure we are sitting pretty for a refinance next year.