Timeline for Buying a House?

FH and I are going to begin looking for a house, tentatively anyway, after our wedding. I would like to know how long the process is from start to finish. There's a couple houses that we have seen on the 'net that we are very interested in now. The only problem is, we are in a lease till May, and we promised the landlord that we'd see it through (he's been very good to us so I don't want to try and weasel out of it). I also know that we may look at these places and not like them, and will have to keep looking.

If we look now and find something now, how long will it take? Can it be dragged out? I just don't know what to do. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

it depends on the seller. before making an offer i would have the real estate agent find out what there time line is. sometimes if there waiting to close on a house where trhere seller is having something built or if there having something built they might need a few months to close but if there moving out of state or are moving into a pre existing home they might need to close asap. if they agree to your time line i would make sure that its written into the contract correctly. remember on or about means that you or they have a month from the set date to close. good luck