Q. I am looking at buying a home in the near future with my husband. We are renting now, have a good credit score and not much debt. But I have co-signed on $35,000 of my daughter's student loans. She has just graduated from college and the first payments are coming due. Will this hurt our ability to get a good mortgage?

A.No. The fact that you have good credit scores and little debt should make you eligible for any lender's best interest rates -- or very close to it. Co-signing your daughter's student loans is unlikely to affect that -- unless she defaults on the payments.

Before you start house hunting, it would be wise to get free credit reports for you and your husband and check for errors. You can also see if the student loans you co-signed even appear on your history. Free reports are available from all three credit reporting agencies at ww.annualcreditreport.com.

You should also begin shopping for a mortgage and get preapproved for a loan. That way you will know how much you can spend on a home. A good place to begin looking for a lender is Interest.com's extensive database of mortgage rates and fees.