Thoughts on house purchase timing and pre-purchase actions

We're looking to purchase a home some time in the next year or so, and I'm trying to prepare as best I can for loan application approval, rates, etc. Just curious if anyone has any thoughts on these topics.

Relevant facts:

• I have PR
• Spouse is a JP citizen
• I'm seishain with a salary somewhere over 13M, spouse is unemployed

1. Timing of purchase

I worked in Japan from 2020 to 2024, but then was transferred overseas. We moved back a year and a half later and, since the company couldn't transfer me back, I moved to a new company. So, as far as Japanese banks would likely be concerned, I was "unemployed" for a year and a half, and now only have 5 months with a new employer.

I imagine that once I cross the 6 month line I can probably find a lender due to my salary, prior work history in Japan, PR, and spouse citizenship, but I imagine the interest rate would be somewhat worse. However, if I wait to have longer tenure with my employer, I think it's pretty reasonable to expect that the BoJ will continue to hike rates anyway. Of course no one has a crystal ball to know what BoJ will do or what rate I would get, but is there anything here I'm not considering?

2. Stop using credit cards?

I've got a couple of credit cards with total credit limit of about 2M. They're only used for regular monthly transactional stuff (say about 300,000 per month, though occasionally higher), and just to get the points, and always payed in full each month (no ribo, no cashing). Do banks usually give you the opportunity to explain credit use, or is it best to just reduce it as much as possible ahead of time? Or does it not really have any effect?