It looks like the new house will be coming sooner than I initially thought. I also found out that anyone who tells you that a single 30-day late that is over two years old won't do much to hurt your FICO is full of it. I started March with a 709 FICO8 score (up from a 687 in Feburary). Paying down some balances, including all of my retail cards, and some CLIs brought me up to a 724. Then I got a GW removal of a four year old 30-day late (thanks Cap One)... that caused a 26 point jump to start April with a 750 FICO8 and, more importantly for me, a 741 FICO4 middle mortgage score.
All of the cards and my student loan will be PIF before most of my statements cut this month. By May 1st I'll be mortgage shopping. So I guess it turns out that I'll just be making a short visit to The Garden.