With interest rates remaining at or near record lows, gasoline prices tumbling to their lowest in a half-dozen years and the Federal Housing Administration stepping up to the plate by lowering insurance premiums, 2015 is already being called the year of the first-time homebuyer.

But whether you are planning to jump into the ownership waters this spring, this summer or even next fall, there are several steps you should start taking now so that there are no surprises when you are ready to get your feet wet:

-- Credit record. Your credit history is the key to not just whether you are eligible for the lowest mortgage rates available, but also whether you can obtain a loan at all. So obtain a copy of your credit records from all three major credit repositories – TransUnion, Equifax and Experian -- and look for any errors or issues that must be dealt with.

It can take several months to correct discrepancies, so the sooner you get your files, the better.

-- Credit score. Your credit record will be used to determine a credit or mortgage score, which is the holy grail of mortgage lending. The higher the score, the easier it will be for you to qualify for financing. So you want to clean up any deficiencies in your record.

Here, it might be wise to align yourself with a good mortgage broker or loan officer who understands how scoring works. Why? Because a simple step that seems logical to you may actually lower, rather than raise, your score.

For example, it is often best to leave an old deficiency on your record and concentrate on newer issues. Paying off an old judgment can raise your score a few points, but by paying it off, it becomes a new problem in the eyes of the scoring software, and that can wind up lowering your score more than it raises it.

-- Tax credits. Many states and even some localities offer tax credits for first-time buyers. Start looking for what your jurisdiction has to offer.

For example, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Washington, among several others, offer help in the form of down-payment or closing cost assistance for rookie buyers who qualify. Generally, eligibility is based on income, and there may be limits on how expensive a property you can purchase.

A good place to start searching for assistance is the Department of Housing and Development. The federal agency does not make grants directly to individuals, but it does grant money to organizations that is earmarked for first-time buyers. Learn more at hud.gov.

-- Counseling. Consider aligning yourself with a housing counselor, who can help guide you through the maze and offer impartial advice that you may or may not receive from your lender of choice.

There are many free counseling agencies available throughout the country. Again, you can start your search for government-approved agencies at HUD or the FHA (fha.gov).

-- Paperwork. When you finally apply for a home loan, you are going to be asked to turn over a bevy of papers, from pay stubs to tax returns, so become familiar with what's needed by your lender. Gather up what you can now, so the burden will be lighter later.

Here's a short list of what you will be asked to produce (some documents can be gathered now, but others will have to be current when you apply):

Federal tax returns for the previous two years, signed and with all schedules; W-2, 1099 and K-1 earnings forms that accompanied those returns; most recent 30 days of pay stubs or earnings statements showing year-to-date earning, and all pages from bank and investment account statements from which you will be paying your deposit, down payment and closing statements.

Also, a clear color copy of your driver's license, passport or other government-issued ID, and a copy of your most recent canceled rent check to verify your monthly housing cost. If you are self-employed, own investment property, or have been at your current residence or place of employment less than two years, even further documentation will be required.

"Once these basic documents are submitted, additional ones will be requested to clarify and expand on information already received, so the better prepared you are, the more smoothly and quickly your purchase will progress to close," says Chris Carter, a loan originator with the Paramount Residential Mortgage Group in Naples, Florida.

-- Saving. The more money you produce at closing as a down payment, the lower your monthly house payments will be. So if you haven't already, start saving now. Even if it's only $100 a paycheck, your savings should mount quickly.

Remember, once you buy a house, you are going to have a monthly payment. So setting aside money now will at least get you used to coming up with extra cash you'll need later on.

Many people try to set themselves up on some kind of budget, which is great if you can stick to it. But statistics show most fail at that exercise, so saving is a preferable alternative, says Donna Skeels Cygan, author of "The Joy of Financial Secuirty" (Sage Future Press, 2013).

"People so often fail to budget because, just like going on a bland diet, it's restrictive and makes us feel deprived," Cygan says. "That's why I suggest to my clients that they ditch their budgeting efforts ASAP and focus on saving instead."

Cygan admits that at first glance, this may feel like splitting hairs. But there's one important difference between budgeting and saving.

"With saving, you stay focused on something positive because there's (almost) literally a pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the road," she explains. "Instead of dwelling on what you're doing without, you can track the growth of your assets and take comfort in your future financial security."

Location is often described as the most important thing in real estate. It's said to be the second and third most important things, too. But in the rental housing market, finding a high-quality tenant trumps location every time.

"The essence of an investment in real estate is a good tenant," says James McClelland of the Mack Cos., one of the largest owner-managers of single-family rental properties in the Midwest. "A good tenant in a bad location is better than a bad tenant in a good location."

The trouble is, most novice landlords -- and even some experienced ones -- don't do the legwork necessary to land a top-notch tenant who will pay his rent on time and take care of the place, hopefully as if it were his own. And that's when landlords get burned.

Nearly 60 percent of the landlords and property managers polled recently by LeaseRunner, an online leasing company, identified "finding the right tenant" as the most challenging aspect of rental real estate.

Perhaps the only thing more difficult than putting in a good tenant is getting out a bad tenant. But if you hold out for a sound one, you won't have to go through the costly, time-consuming eviction process.

McClelland, whose company manages about 570 single-family rentals, including 200 owned by others, maintains there are plenty of good tenants looking to rent a nice house. "You may have to go through a bunch of (prospects) to find one," he says, "but it's worth it."

So, whether you are an "accidental" landlord who has no choice but to rent your house or an investor looking to cash in on what is expected to be a booming single-family rental sector, here's how Mack Cos. goes about it:

For starters, personally meet your prospects at your property to show them around, answer their questions and ask a few of your own.

There's no hard rule about appearances. A guy with a bunch of tattoos who shows up on a Harley could just as easily be Mr. Right -- as long as the bike isn't too loud -- as a seemingly clean-cut guy who arrives in a Prius. But if he or she doesn't seem to give a hoot about personal hygiene, chances are they won't take any better care of your house than they do of themselves.

Don't discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Still, if you get a bad vibe about the person, or if something doesn't seem right, go on to the next one.

You also have to ask the right questions. Most novice landlords ask about such things as hometowns and high schools, McClelland says. "They just want to see if they like the person, without any understanding of their financial capabilities."

It's better to purchase a standard rental application form at the local stationery or office supply store and have your prospect fill it out completely. Most important, you'll want to know how long they have lived at their current address, how much rent they pay, where they work and how much they earn. Also ask why the person is leaving. It could be that he is being evicted, but it also could be that he has no choice. Maybe the owner is selling the place or wants to rent to a relative.

Now verify everything. Start by interviewing the current landlord on the phone. How much is the rent? How long has the potential tenant lived there? Did she take care of the place? Any problems?

Yes, you want to make sure everything matches up. But during the course of your conversation, you also want to listen for something on the order of, "I'm sorry So-and-So is leaving," or, "He was really a good tenant; I hate to lose him."

Also call the prospect's employer to verify her employment. Mack Cos. looks for people with three years' tenure at their current workplace. "You want to make sure they are stable, not job-jumping," McClelland says.

Next, pull a credit report on the prospect and run criminal background and "skip-trace" checks. If you don't have an account with a credit reporting agency or tenant screening service, ask your real estate agent to perform these services on your behalf.

You can charge the prospect a fee for this. In fact, doing so often weeds out the bad apples who don't want to pay because they know what the results will be. But you can't use the credit report as a profit center.

Here, you are looking at how prospects pay their bills. If they are late or don't pay at all, chances are they are going to treat the rent payment the same way. "A landlord needs his rent on time because he has to make his mortgage payment on time," McClelland says.

McClelland's staff also visits prospects at their current residences to get an idea of how they maintain their homes. "How they take care of their current property is indicative of how they will take care of yours," he explains.

If the would-be tenant does not meet your standards, you can deny the lease or ask for a co-signer, a larger security deposit or even a higher rent. But if you take any of these "adverse" actions based on a credit report or a report from a tenant-screening service, you are required by law to give the prospect the name, address and phone number of the agency that supplied the report.

Following these steps will help protect your investment, but the work doesn't stop there. Now you have to manage the property.

There's more to it than just collecting rent, of course. A great way to make sure your rental house is being taken care of is to go to the place in person every month to pick up the check. That way, you can look around to see for yourself that the house is in the same condition it was when the tenant moved in.

McClelland concedes that this takes time. "But you know what takes more time?" he says. "Making costly repairs to the property because you haven't checked on the tenant in months, then finding out the property was poorly maintained."

"Show me the money."

-- Cuba Gooding Jr. as Rod Tidwell, "Jerry Maguire" (1996)

Real estate agents should never talk clients into buying a property. But every so often, they talk their folks out of buying one.

Perhaps the would-be buyers don't realize the place is in a tough neighborhood. Maybe the price is just too high for the area. Or possibly the client isn't giving enough thought to the resale value several years down the road.

Whatever the reason, it's not always about the money.

"It's not about the sale to me," says Joan Patterson of Keller Williams Realty in Rancho Cucamonga, California. "It's about integrity. I want my clients happy so I can sleep at night."

Cindy Jones of the CJ Realty Group in Woodbridge, Virginia, recently talked a couple out of buying a lot in Fairfax County outside Washington, D.C., where they wanted to build a house. "Many folks would say that's crazy," says Jones. "However, my role as a realtor isn't about what might put a few bucks in my pocket but about doing what is right."

In this case, the buyer wanted to move forward, even though there were some soil issues. "The listing agents assured us the lot was buildable, but I had some doubts," the Virginia agent says. So she researched the lot's history and eventually secured a letter from the health department stating that not only did the property not "perc," but that it also wasn't suitable for an alternative septic system.

This didn't deter her buyers, either, so Jones suggested speaking once more with the county to make sure what it said was correct. After "sleeping on it" and meeting with a county engineer in person, they finally decided the lot was too big a gamble.

"My clients thanked me for continuing to dig and for keeping them from making a very expensive mistake," the agent says. "We will keep looking to find the right property for them to build their dream home, and I'll sleep well knowing their money is still safe in their bank account."

Buyers don't always heed their agents' warnings. That's their choice, of course. But often, the results are ruinous. "Sometimes," says Patricia Baker of Leslie Wells Realty in Parrish, Florida, "the client can be his own worst enemy."

A few years back, Michael Pagliccia of Premiere Plus Realty in Naples, Florida, represented two buyers who wanted to spend big bucks -- $3.3 million in one case, $1.6 million in the other -- in a brand-new community by a well-known major builder. But Pagliccia balked.

"My advice was not to spend that kind of money in a community that was not more than 10 percent developed because of the level of uncertainty of how the development would do," he recalls. "In my eyes, waterfront will always hold its value much more so than a golf course community home. My advice was to put the money in something else, either on the water or closer to the water."

Long story short, the buyers went ahead anyway, the developer eventually went belly-up, the community remains largely unbuilt and the homes they bought are now worth $2.2 million and $1 million, respectively.

Despite his misgivings, Pagliccia decided to assist these buyers because if he didn't, there were plenty of other agents who would. But another Florida agent, Mary Diaz of RE/MAX Action First in Tampa, took a hike once when her clients, a couple with two young children, wanted to buy a house with defective Chinese drywall.

"The price was so exciting that nothing else mattered," according to Diaz.

After talking about the ramifications of buying a house with this kind of issue -- the inability to obtain insurance or financing, resale problems and the possible health questions -- Diaz demurred. "I told them I would not be part of a transaction that was so dangerous for their family," she says. "I walked away from the transaction and never saw them again."

When buyers -- or sellers, for that matter -- listen to their agents, the outcome is often favorable. Take the time Dava Behrens of Coldwell Banker Valley Brokers in Corvallis, Oregon, represented would-be buyers who fell in love with a house, even though high-tension power lines ran over a corner of the property.

Otherwise, the place was "perfect." So, although they were concerned about the possible health issues and the wide easement that allowed for expansion of the lines, the buyers started envisioning living there anyway. They had nearly convinced themselves it was something they could live with when Behrens spoke up.

"Every time you wake up with a headache, every time you are not feeling up to par, are you going to question if it's a side effect of the power lines?" the Oregon broker asked. "And if so, what is your quality of life going to be in this house?"

Behrens realizes that views differ on how power lines affect people's health. But the only opinion that is important, the agent says, is the client's.

Even though Behrens walked away from a big commission, she made a loyal customer who has since done several transactions with her and referred numerous friends and acquaintances.

On "multiple occasions," Valerie Torelli of Torelli Realty in Costa Mesa, California, has advised owners against selling and buyers against buying. And she wishes more brokerages would allow their agents to discourage buyers from purchasing the wrong house, instead of teaching them to show three houses and then ask the buyer to make an offer on one of them.

"It would help elevate our profession in the eyes of the consumer," says Torelli.

It also would lead to more happy endings, like the time a few years back when Deb Agliano of ERA Andrew Realty in Medford, Massachussetts, instinctively knew her clients were settling for a place they weren't really crazy about.

"I told them ... this wasn't the right house for them and we should keep looking," Agliano remembers. "The next week, we found their dream home."