You have gotten great advice from some very smart people here!!
We have moved 5 times in 15 years. All work related. My best advice would be:
*To look around at everything. Pick the perfect house for you. You want to love everything about the house. It is almost like picking your yorkie. Find the one for you!
*Tell your realtor exactly what you want. If there is something that you absolutely hate in a house tell him/her that. For me it is the location of the laundry room. If the house is a two story, the laundry room has to be up stair. There are six people in my family and I refuse the carry laundy up and down.
*Don't forget if you have kids, to think about school district and how far way the school with be from your new home. I love my house because my kids can walk two blocks in either direction and be at the elementry school and high school.
*If socializing with the neighbors is important to you. Then drive by a house you are interested in at different times of the day. To see what is going on. We have lived in houses where all the neighbors hung out in the court all afternoon. We have also lived on streets where no one is ever out.
*When we purchased our current house. It went on the market in Feb. and we bought it the first weekend that it was on the market. We were the first people to look at the house! I knew it was coming on the marker. I had watched the area and knew what was available and how the price compared. We make an offer stating that we didn't want to move in until June 1st. We closed on the house in March and the old owners rented the house from us until the end of May.