1. Choose a home you can foresee yourself staying for a long time. Gone are the days when we buy and flip a home. Be sure that you select the one whose loan term you can outlive. With that in mind, make sure that the home would not need heavy renovations. Otherwise, you defeat the purpose for saving on your home mortgage.
2. Start saving now. As soon as you determine how much you need for the down payment and future amortizations, open a high interest-bearing savings account. Set up an automatic transfer to this account. As funds are moved weekly, you are saving for your home mortgage without you noticing it.