Good income but weird credit

[Ashwani K.]

While trying to buy my first investment property (175K), i am being told by mortgage brokers that I can't get a loan. The primary reasons being given are:

1. I don't have 2-yrs worth of self-employment history. And, my wife doesn't have 2-yrs continuos permanent employment.

2. There are a couple of collections on the credit.

Background:

I was laid off from my job about 19 months ago, and I started my own consulting business. Since, then had regular payments coming from the client into my LLC account. In my consulting business, I am making a little more money than I used to in my salaried job. My wife started her permanent job about 22 months ago.

We have a couple of dings on credit report - with some medical payments that we missed paying. It was not that we didn't intend to pay, but couldn't figure out which invoice was which.

My credit scores are at 720 and my wife's at 640.

Question:

What is the best way to present my case to the brokers? Who should I approach for the loan? I am in Dallas/Ft Worth by the way