Buying first home!!

Tell me all the “wish I knew” things when you bought your first home. My husband and I are looking to buy a home within the next few months, hopefully by the end of the year. We are already looking for homes in our area just to see what we can get for how much, etc. We’ve never done this before so we are pretty clueless. We’re interested to know about the process as a whole, using a real estate agent, possibly wanting to buy a new build so any info on that. Bonus points if you have any experience with a VA loan 😌 thank you!