1. Catch mistakes before they make it to your report. Double-check your credit card and other lending statements to make sure you were credited for last month’s payment and that all charges are yours.

2. Stagger your free reports for year-round monitoring. The only place to get your federally guaranteed free credit report is through the annual credit request service.

For the complete list, chick here.

1. Assess your credit. Most mortgage lenders use FICO scores to determine loan eligibility.

2. Determine how much to borrow. Many first-time home buyers make the mistake of borrowing as much as their banks or credit unions are willing to offer.

3. Factor in ongoing costs. One of the upsides of renting is that when the refrigerator goes kaput, you can simply call your landlord to have it repaired.

4. Save up to buy. Buying your first home isn’t just a matter of bidding on a house and signing on the dotted line.

Recently, when my agent listed my house she included what I feared was too bold a directive: “Seller will review all offers on June 14.” All offers? What if there were no offers? Such a technique was common during the real-estate boom. But more recently, I’ve mostly seen the tactic used when a home is in excellent shape — a message that a lot of time (and possibly, money) was spent making the house move-in ready and that a buyer should act quickly. I wondered whether my place was really in such good shape and worried buyers might be scared away.