text: There are a couple things that you can do\n\n- look for for sell signs in the neighborhood that you're interested.  you can get a sense of how much you need for the house that you like\n\n- get a pre-approval from a bank, this way you know how much a bank is willing to lend you\n\n- ask friends/relatives for referrals of real estate agents.\n\nOnce you contacted the agent, he/she will show you houses that match the critiria you mentioned.  So it's better to know what you want first.