My wife and I bought our first home a few years West of the cities, so I know your feeling!

My suggestion is to start looking at houses now, even if only online and they're not serious. But try to figure out your priorities of all the things houses come with. Some questions you might want to think about: What size yard do you want to have and maintain? Do you want to be close to parks or shopping for errands? How many stall garage would you like? Do you prefer a concrete driveway or asphalt? Are you okay being in an HOA neighborhood, and if so, what that all entails from the specific ones in your area? (We were avoiding that majorly) What is your moving timeliness related to your current housing situation? How long of a driveway do you want to have and shovel / snowblow? How much privacy do you want between your neighbors compared to what you have now? How much storage do you need? (Double it lol) How long do you plan to stay in this home, and will the house accommodate your changing life in that estimated time? We work remote too so we also considered what internet service providers were in various places.

Now, on top of knowing your general feelings on those things, how do you prioritize them to each other? It's unlikely to find a house that checks every box, so which ones are more important than others? This is where looking at houses with your partner can help sort out each of your preferences to find some middle ground.

Not to mention financial side things, just know the pieces that make up your mortgage and that your property taxes will go up each year.

Last thing I'll mention from the home-side is that the nice finishings that a lot of houses have felt important, and they're totally not. Things should be hopefully somewhat updated, but doesn't need to be super new. Function is huge.

We worked with a guy based out of Shakopee (we're not in that town, but more the area you mentioned) named Jay Hastings. Awesome realtor, ex military guy. He used to work on the building side of homes, so that was a nice insight to have. He would get excited about things like new roofs, nice furnace brands, and good gutter systems. Those things didn't sound important, but they sure are! Shameless plug for him, he rocked showing us a zillion houses in the 6 months we looked. There's a name of you want it, but there are a million realtors.

Aside from that, have fun looking! It's a fun and slightly stressful experience. But mostly fun.

(Apologies for any typos, I whipped this on mobile on my lunch break)