6. You Don't Have Enough for a Down Payment
You should have at least a 20% down payment ready in order to avoid paying private mortgage insurance (PMI). If you don't have enough, wait until you've saved up more money before you consider looking at houses.
The only exception is if you're in an environment in which home prices are skyrocketing (like 2010), when the cost of PMI was negated by the climbing home values. But these days, with values stabilizing and returning to normal growth levels (roughly the level of inflation), you're better off waiting until you've saved 20 percent.