As far as our home selling/buying went, we sold our house and were in a new one 43 days after talking to an agent. The day we put it on the market we had four offers. We had agents show up before the listing appeared on MLS at 8:00 am on a Saturday. The thing is, as good LBYM types, we still had a ton of equity in our house and weren't short sellers. Our home was a classic first time home buyer type (3 bedroom 2.5 bath, 1800 sq feet). Short selling is a nightmare and young couples just wanted a home to raise their kids in. It was funny, DW really wanted to sell to this one couple who met us and wrote this nice letter and were 8 months pregnant, yadda yadda. I said, "That's nice, and their offer is 10k short." LOL! We ended up with a no contingency offer 5k over our asking with a 45 day escrow one day after listing, two days after talking to an agent. Now the caveat was our house was the model, had a few upgrades and a slightly larger lot, so anyone who was really interested in our neighborhood probably jumped.
But then we didn't have a house! We didn't know what to do and everything was a short sale. So Memorial Day our agent takes us to a standard sale just over the hill from our old house and we knew it was right the moment we walked in. 2500 sq feet, 4 bed, 3 bath, 3 car garage, up to 33 foot vaulted ceilings making it feel so much bigger, and a nice, flat backyard overlooking the 5th and 6th fairway of a really nice golf course (they had a Buick Invitational qualifier there one year). Location was good to not get golf balls in the yard (we've had 5 since June). I joke that in San Diego a golf course view is the poor man's ocean front property.
Here, I'll see if I can remember how to add images:
Lia (Olivia - remember helping choose her name?) loving that she got to put Christmas decorations on the tree:
Lia not loving that she wasn't the only one:
View from the deck off our Master bedroom:
Roasting marshmallows in our backyard. It feels like camping every night!
Lia complaining about sticky marshmallow hands:
Wanting a hug anyway:
I'm a sucker:
We are 45 minutes south of Disneyland, so season passes are a no brainer, this was the pic we sent out with our Christmas cards:
Tori laughing on a ride at Disneyland:
Tori and Mommy smiling for the camera. She is doing so well and Down Syndrome is one of the last things we see in her, she really is a gem:
Dang, I have no good pictures of the house all decorated, this is what we have from first going in escrow. The house was empty and the sellers were motivated, so we got a fantastic deal, about 250k off the market peak (which still meant almost half a mill!):
Kitchen nook, we bought a pub height table and I enjoy the view every morning:
Master Bedroom:
Another view over the back fence:
Part of the yard:
Living room:
Family Room:
Anyhow, we got a great price and at a fixed 5% for 30 years we ended up only paying a few hundred more a month for it than our old house (yes, and re-set the clock) and since we have no other debt or car payments (thank you er.org!) we are quite comfortable with our payments and can still do what we want, whenever. Anyhow, that's a quick catch up wrap up!
I am grinnin' from ear to ear after lookin' at those photos. I am so happy and proud for you and your family! 
