Gail Vaz-Oxlade has written an excellent post about the steps to home ownership. It's in my future goals to own a home, in fact, I'd like to own one before I'm 30, which is approx 6 years away. If I start to save for an eventual downpayment when I get home (in 2010), that gives me 5 years.
However, this article really enlightened me about the true costs being buying a home. Of course, things like the cost of new furniture/dishes/other household items, as well as the obvious (bills, mortgage, etc), things like 'closing costs' and other home-buying fees didn't cross my mind.
I'm really going to have to sit down in the future and budget a future plan for my home-buying adventure. Check out the article if you're thinking of buying a home in the future.