For the last two weeks I was teaching an IAEA inspector's course on basic nondestructive assay of nuclear materials. This was my first time teaching the gamma ray detection side of the course and I think I did very well. In a couple months I'll be teaching another course, this time on the neutron side.
This past weekend I made the first tentative step towards buying a house: I went and looked at a house that a friend is selling. I clearly have no idea how this whole process works. What I do know is this: I hate shopping. I have a tendency to identify something I'm shopping for as "good enough" and "cheap enough" and just buy it rather than having to do more shopping and reap the diminishing returns. Of course, buying a house is like the king of all shopping experiences and the difference in prices for a bit more work can amount to thousands of dollars. So I'm going to have to bite the bullet and actually be thorough on this.
In other news, I'm glad that Pluto is finally not referred to as a planet. I found the old definition to be annoyingly unrigorous. The fallout for websites like nineplanets.org is rather humorous. Go IAU!
You did fine when buying your truck, I assume it's pretty much the same. Hopefully you won't have to kick any tires though.
I agree about Pluto. Bout time.
So thankfully, first-time homebuyers have a big advantage in that they're not bound by selling contingencies, and they don't have to pay a commission (which is paid essentially exclusively by the seller). Plus, the economics work out so that the agents are strongly motivated to sell homes quickly, even if that means sacrificing the higher price that would probably happen if they held out a big longer. It all works out in your favor.
It also means that you can haggle heavily. Do so. It's worth your time to stick it out.
The only advice I can give so early in the game is that if you're planning on shopping around for mortgages, don't get a quote from any banks, because that allows them to lock all other lenders out from your loan. Get estimates, instead.
Oh, and I don't remember if Zillow lists the areas in which you're interested yet, but if they do, they're worth a look.