Looking for a home...

Well, the past few weeks have flown by.  We finally got approvals on our move and then decided to jump into action - no reason to delay! So within a week, we researched the area, found a Realtor, found a mortgage broker, hopped on a plane and headed to Orange County. 

Stella was great on the first flight to Phoenix, which was amazing because we were stuck out on the runway for 1.5 hours before we could even take off.  She was a a champ, but it all came to a head when we were in the airport in Phoenix waiting for our second flight.  She was hysterically screaming, it was so bad that we had 2 different women come up and offer to help us.  Yikes.  Luckily she fell asleep once we were on the plane and slept the whole flight to Orange County.

The first day, Mike and I drove around South County and the different areas we were considering... Aliso Viejo, San Clemente, Ladera Ranch, Costa Mesa, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.  That afternoon we met with our realtor and walked through 15+ homes.  It was so overwhelming and honestly a little disheartening.  We knew OC was expensive, but we were pretty disappointed in the types of properties we could afford. 

But, after our first day, we decided we definitely wanted to live in Aliso Viejo, our Realtor got a better sense of who we were and what we were looking for and day 2 was a complete 180.  We saw great homes, great neighborhoods and at the end of the day, we had found at least 3 homes we were considering putting an offer on. 

We decided to take Tuesday off from house hunting and just enjoyed the day, got to know the neighborhood, hung out at the beach and went to our friends' daughter's 4th Birthday party at a petting zoo.  Stella loved it, and it was so fun to spend time with Sierra and Chase - I can't wait to be close to them!

Laguna Beach

Petting Zoo

On our final day there, we moved forward and put an offer on a house! We LOVE the house, but it's a short sale, so it's very likely we won't get it and even if we do, it could be 6-8 months before it's ours.  We are still amazed that we were able to accomplish so much with such a quick trip across the entire country.  But, we're so happy with what we found and fingers crossed we actually get it!

Our home (hopefully!)

At the Realtor's office, signing the offer!