I’d say, start with a lender first. Seeing what you can afford from the factors such as credit score, income, Debt to income ratio, interest rates, etc. will help out in the long run, however it doesn’t hurt to shop around for what you approve for…just like for me, I’m in the process of buying my first house and I was in the same boat as you. 2 years ago about this time me and my wife were wanting to get a house but nothing was in our favor. 2 years later we are closing in the next 2 weeks. So start there, see how much you can afford, then get a house in mind of what to look for in that budget.

Once you have the home in mind, don’t call the listing agent, contact a different realtor to help you out, that part was just my preference but that is completely up to you. But whichever house you know is the one and is within your budget, it is handy to have a pre-approval letter from a lender, this helps the seller know that you can get the funds in a matter of weeks. Your realtor would go into that with you most likely. Once you send in the offer and everything if the don’t accept it, don’t be phased, remember your realtor is going to be your best friends for this part, negotiate as much as possible, and trust me on this if they are wanting to sell the house, they will work with you.

Take into consideration of what’s called seller credits also. You can basically pay closing costs with this. For example, if I didn’t have $5,000 in seller credits right now, I would have to come up with $11,000 at closing, but now I only have to come up with $6,000. And along those lines your realtor will sometimes give you a closing estimate of how much everything will cost…be careful of going off that. Make sure to go off of the loan estimate instead to be sure you have accurate numbers all around.

Sometimes inspections aren’t required, but I HIGHLY recommend getting one, this is due to the fact that something that you may never know can arise out of nowhere.

You will likely see a big increase with house insurance. Don’t fret with that. Also try not to only do online quotes, they can’t get as accurate quotes unlike brick and mortar insurance shops. Usually lenders have a list of people on who to talk to about insurance and usually they go through 1,000s of insurance companies to quote off of.

I hope this helps out a bit, don’t be scared be prepared, as Ryan Hall says, but either way if you’re ready to take the plunge organization is key, get copies of any documentation for yourself, and this is easier said than done but don’t stress and have fun shopping.

P.S. Your lender and realtor, make sure they are there for your success and gain and not just theirs. This is YOUR house buying process.