what I know about real estate could be written on my hand

I am going to be looking to buy a (small) house of my own soon, and I have been browsing around online at houses listed in my area. Looking for a place to actually buy is something that I have no previous experience of, which for me means lots and lots of anxiety and awkwardness and possibly making a fool out of myself. All I know about buying houses now are a few very simple ground rules like "avoid adjustable-rate mortgages", "if a place is ridiculously cheap, there's probably a good [i.e., bad] reason for it", "don't have the inspection done by someone recommended by the seller", and of course the important "be wary of any place that is described in the listing as having 'charm', or having 'potential' - unless you want to spend most of your time and money for the next couple of years basically rebuilding the place".