Many people tend to forget that they need to set a budget from the beginning because if you find a beautiful house then it is very easy to get carried away and it is more likely people will pay over the odds for a property that may not be worth as much as what was paid.
Always work out the necessary figures and include all household incomings and outgoings because this will help access what you can afford. The usual way is to get all incoming monies after deductions and multiply this by five. This is the normal way lenders will access exactly what the maximum amount is that can be spent.