Don't forget you'll need money for closing costs, people tend to forget this and worry about putting everything they have saved on a down payment. If you are in a sellers market, don't expect them to help out much with closing costs.
You will need earnest money once you decide to buy, so again don't plan on every penny from your house savings fund for the down payment. You will get your earnest money back as a credit toward your closing costs.
If a family member is going to gift you money, ask them to do it asap. The money needs to be seasoned in your account for a minimum of 60 days, but some lenders require longer. If this is going to be the case, ask you lender.
Get pre-approved - then all you need to do is find the house, since you would know what you could afford. It doesn't mean you have to buy that much, it just makes it easier to eliminate houses you can't afford upfront.
Get your paper work in order - make sure you have two consecutive paystubs, 60 days worth of bank statements, asset statements (on assets that is a retirement account, you get credit for 60% of what's in the account since you would be taxed for early withdrawal since you are not 59.5), two years of W-2's, your employers phone number for Human Resources to verify your employment and review your credit reports, is there anything on them you may need to explain? Any documentation you are asked to supply your lender needs to be all pages of the document.
Don't get caught up in paint colors, how someone has their house decorated, etc. Those can all be changed easily.
Have a home inspection, and make your offer subject to the home inspection. This will give you an out if something is found and the seller is not willing to fix it.
When you find the one - look at it multiple times, and different times during the day. This will allow you to gauge what the neighborhood is like in the morning, evening, afternoon, etc. You can see what the traffic is like, does the school bus stop in front of the house, are there lots of kids, etc.
