Considering buying, but have no clue where to start.

[Marley&Me]

Thank you for all your advice ladies
LionsandBears, we are hoping to put more in and save quicker so we can take advantage of the reasonable prices at the moment. Weather or not they are still good in 18 months time is anybody's guess though.

And we can't get the first home buyers because DH bought a house for $40K about 15 years ago He separated from his ex and sold it after only 2 years and made no profit. It sucks that because of this we can't get it.

I saw the bank this morning and they were great. They worked out an estimate for me for a $280K house. We will need (worst case scenario-her words):
$34K deposit, which can be saved over 18 months at $435 a week (tight, but should be doable for us)
And our mortgage repayment will only be $378 per week. That sounds totally doable for us

Sounds easy, but I know it will be much harder than that. Especially if I manage to fall pregnant. DH is prepared to work weekends whenever he can to get extra $ too.