Lining up all the necessary pieces to buy a home can take a lot of legwork. You've got to figure out what you can spend, what you want to buy, and how you're going to pay for it -- and not necessarily in that order. It's a much more involved process than renting. But it comes with a much bigger payoff, personally as well as financially.

You'll have to take care of several things before you actually buy a home. These steps will usually take place over the course of several months:

• Calculate how big a mortgage you'll be able to take on
• Figure out how big a down payment you can make
• Find the right home
• Negotiate a price
• Find the right mortgage