Looking for a house

Our family spent yesterday afternoon in the town where my husband works and to which we are hoping to move in a year.  While I had attended college there and was fairly familiar, I had never really looked at it through the eyes of a true resident, and I certainly wasn't overly familiar with the locations of all the residential streets.  We enjoyed our afternoon, and we are faced with many thoughts and options.  We are contemplating buying a major fixer that we can work on for the next year, but there is of course the risk of owning two homes at one time.  I keep insisting however, that we are not moving until next summer...although that may be my way of being in denial!