Any other advice for learning to identify a good deal vs. an overpriced property?
You can also check online what the county has for the estimated tax value. However, realize that these are not always 100% accurate, but if you're looking only within one city or even one neighborhood, you'll get a pretty good feeling for the percentage difference to expect.
For example, if you find 5 in the same area and are all 15% more than estimated tax value, and then you find one that is right at tax value, then increased chances it's a good deal. If then you find one that is 30% more than estimated tax value, increased chances it is overpriced.
To answer a question you didn't ask as a self-proclaimed noob - if you are looking at a condo or townhome, make sure you review all of the Association rules and financial documents. Most people just ignore these. At a minimum you want to confirm you're okay with their rules. But most importantly you don't want to get a good deal on the house and then find out next year dues are going up a lot of money, and the following year the roofs are getting replaced and the association doesn't have enough money, so each owner has to pay in $10,000. Minnesota recently passed a law that all homeowner associations must be fully-funded, or must have documentation stating why they aren't fully funded or how they plan to get there. You want to understand these documents.
One final "noob" thing... an inspection is very important. A lot of noobs are enticed by the visual things which can be very cheap (new carpet, new paint, etc.) and ignore the old things that are expensive to replace (old furnace, old AC, old electrical that needs to be upgraded, old roof that needs to be replaced, etc.).
