Hi Jess,
I just wanted to mention just a few other things to also consider when buying a house, find out where the hospital and general stores are at. You don't really want to be too far from a hospital in an emergency. Depending what state you're in you might need to check for flooding zones, tornado zones, etc.
I know that it is a very stressful when buying a first time home but a lot of research also needs to be done too.
Good luck searching.

Hi Jess :)
Buying a house is stressful but it can also be a wonderful experience. :D
When you find a house just make sure it has passed all it's inspections.
Come back to the neighborhood at different times a day to get a better idea of what the neighbors are like.
Is it quiet or are there loud parties at night?
Are there school children playing outside? If so then it is a pretty safe area.
I can see your perfectionism in wanting to buy the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood but this causes you unnecessary added stress.
Find a suitable house and buy it.
I love the freedom of owning my own home. Decorating as I choose, no landlord hovering over me interfering in my life.
Plus my monthly payments going toward the purchase rather than just a pile of rent receipts.
I have owned three houses in my lifetime and this latest one the mortgage is finally all paid off and the money we used to pay is now adding up in the bank account. :)

Good luck and the best of wishes. :D

I am so scared of buying a house! We have been looking for about two years, no rush, just living in an apartment and now we're getting to the point where we need to make a decision. My husband would ideally like to buy this month. *faint*

I have always had terrible anxiety surrounding decision making. This is SUCH a huge purchase. It took me over a year to buy a vacuum and that involved me reading tons of product reviews, watching test videos, asking people I knew about their experiences, and watching sale prices and trends at several different stores. I know that's excessive but I don't know how to be different.

Now this house thing, we want to be in our own home but we also don't plan on this being our forever home. I'm terrified we will choose the wrong neighborhood or the wrong property and we'll never be able to unload it. Like I said, we've been researching for two years and I still don't feel capable of making this decision.

I'm not sure what I'm looking for by posting this. Maybe I just needed to type it out?