I would like to start investing but I am not sure of what I should do.

[Alan C.]

My wife and I would like to buy our first home together and have it renovated to our liking. We would also like to invest in real estate as soon as possible. However, we had filed chapter 7 bankruptcy and August will be the two year mark since then. Because my oldest credit cards were discharged in the bankruptcy, my credit history only goes back 3 years. My credit report consists of 3 student loans and 2 credit cards with very low credit limits. My wife's credit report has 3 student loans and 2 credit cards as well. Mine and my wife's credit scores are about 680 a piece. My wife is a full-time mom. I have been in my career for 5 years and a year ago I enlisted into the Air National Guard. Due to a few unforeseen events we have only $3,000 in our savings and $10,000 a IRA account. However, I make approximately $100k+ a year and we're able to save $3,000-$4,000 a month. My questions are, should we save more before looking or should we find a lender who is willing to work with us? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.