Looking for a house

Well, Nick and I have finally saved enough money and feel in a good place to be able to look toward buying a house! When I first moved out here to California with him, we thought about it and even searched a little . . . until we realized the expense of housing in California and decided against it. Now that we're married and have spent the last year saving (yup - no debt from our wedding at all!) we are in a much better position to purchase a house - plus the housing market is now more affordable in California.

All-in-all it is quite and undertaking to look for a home and be truly prepared to make that purchase. Right now we are busy looking at our finances, wading through possible mortgage options and getting ready to meet face-to-face with possible mortgage lenders to get a pre-approved mortgage.

Being the dreamer type in the relationship - I of course have started looking at actual houses on the market through the web. We are not going to buy a house just to have a house, but rather only want to buy something we really like that is completely within our comfort zone of affordability.

Thanks for all your advice and help so far - I'm sure we'll need more as we continue to wade through this process.