First time home buyers

I think all the sellers we came in contact with could see "novice" written all over our faces, but that helped make friends so we took advantage.  I am still finishing up school, and we had to have some vacation time, so we only had about 4 days to buy a home.  We had been looking for a few months now on the internet, but it is just not the same.  We took our whirlwind road trip to Iowa City with the kids and set out to buy a home.  The place we ended up buying was the first place we saw.  While we may have been suckers, the realtor told us that this place was just posted and a looked really great - yeah, we fell right in.  We saw about 25 homes total, but we ended up going back to the first.  Before we started, we set a goal of how much we would like to pay, and then we put a limit which was a little higher.  Bad idea - the higher priced items almost always look better so we too ended up at the top of our budget (or should I say bottom).  Homes are more expensive in Iowa City, so we ended up buying half of a duplex.  It is very nice, it has a great yard with nice trees, and it is very close to biking/running trails, a gym, a nice mall and children's museum, and only about 3 miles from my work.  So we are really happy, and things have worked out well.  Here is a snap shot.  While I have pictures of the whole house, you will have to come visit to see.  We will have a 4th bedroom, so you will have a space to sleep.  Our side is on the left, and our neighbor is an orthopedic surgery resident that happens to be mormon, and has some smaller children (ironic, we did not plan it that way at all).  The two car garage was an essential to keep me from chipping ice off my car windows at 4am when I go to work.  It is always the little things that make a difference.