Hey Fear,
I am a mortgage loan officer and you are getting alot of good advice here. SpeedJunkie is right that you should talk to a lender first to make sure that you are focusing your efforts on looking at a house that you can/want to pay the mortgage payment on... and in the same light, almost any good realtor will want you to have a preapproval from a reputable source before they will even use their time/energy to show you any properties. Since the mortgage market "is what it is" right now, most reputable sources are actual lenders and not so much the brokers. Not knocking brokers, because I did the broker thing before the market issues that we have now, but First Horizon is a big lender and has an excellent reputation, and is days from becoming Metropolitan Life (Met Life bought out First Horizon). I also know a great agent up there in Newport News, and will be happy to refer you to him. Give me a call and we can get some of this stuff rolling for you. That's my personal cell at the bottom of this message, and I am pretty much available anytime. A home purchase really can be an easy deal, despite what you might hear from most people, it just kind of depends on who you are dealing with. I'd like to see you being one of the people that can walk into YOUR house after the closing and think "That wasn't difficult! Why didn't I do that sooner? I can't wait to have people over for a housewarming party!!"
See ya,
Sonny
(757) 478-5365