House Hunter

So if you don't know, I have officially started house hunting. When I met with the realtor for the first time, I informed him that he needed to give me the "House Buying for Dummies" version of Real Estate. Anything I know about house buying came from watching HGTV. After only 2 days of looking, I am already overwhelmed and confused. 
  
A few observations about the process:
   
I have now walked through 10 houses. People are still living in 9 of them. It feels extremely awkward to walk around someone's home when they're not there... opening their kitchen cabinets, peeking into their closets, criticizing their taste in carpet color, wallpaper, or bathroom tile. And every house has its own smell. One house smelled like moth balls... another one REEKED of stale smoke. One house had 3 cats just rolling around the living room when we walked in. (This is why cats make for terrible home protection. They barely batted an eyelash when 2 complete strangers walked in. One even purred. Useless animals...) 
   
I've been doing a lot of thinking about what's important to me in a house. I know that some things are purely cosmetic and can be easily changed. Do I want to buy something at the top of my price range just because everything is freshly painted and newly updated? It would be "move-in ready" and I wouldn't have to spend any extra time or money fixing an outdated bathroom with hideous pink tile or ripping off peeling, faded 1980s wallpaper. Or do I want to get a house that's a little cheaper, and then pay to have an older kitchen remodeled the way I like it? In the case of the smoker's house, I thought (and the realtor agreed) that they were asking too much for a house that needed a lot of updating... not to mention the carpet and wallpaper would have to go in order to get rid of the smoke. However, the location of the house is amazing. The neighborhood is quiet and well maintained, the back yard is lovely. Decisions, decisions.
   
What I need to do now is create a list of pros and cons and really decide where to draw the line. I hope this gets easier soon.