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On the East Coast, we had bought one home and sold it 3.5 years later after we moved to the West Coast.

On the West Coast, we've bought two homes: one before the pandemic and one after the pandemic.

Each time, the process of buying a home was stressful.

What to Prepare Before Picking a Realtor to Buy a New Home

From what I can see now and for the foreseeable future, there is no shortage in REALTORs so finding a REALTOR is the easy part. We like to find a one who has been active in the business for decades because they know more about the area and have a finesse about them. All of our REALTORS have not only been active and successfully selling and buying property for their clients for decades, but they were all also brokers who owned their own office with employees.

Typically, you'd need a pre-approval letter from a bank or mortgage broker to see how much money you are allowed to borrow in order to efficiently narrow down your price range and provide this information to your REALTOR.

Guessing how much you're allowed to borrow is a big no-no. Having that official pre-approved letter will save you and your REALTOR time now and when you're ready to put in a offer for the home you like. Once you're ready to ink that offer with your signature you'll need to be sure that you can fulfill your compelling offer. The seller won't want to waste their time with someone they're not sure can afford to buy their home and they'll usually want to sell it as soon as possible.

If you're a military veteran like my husband, make sure to check with USAA to see what kind of veteran or military special loans you can get or are eligible for. If you decide to use a different bank or mortgage broker, they'll usually ask you if you're a veteran as well, so that they can find the best loan rates for you.

Besides getting the proper pre-approved letter ready, I want to say that you'll also need to get emotionally and mentally ready because once you start searching for a home, finding one you like and then, putting in an offer, that's when the emotional roller coaster starts to take place. The waiting game of waiting for an answer, the negotiation that takes place before getting an acceptance, taking care of the legal stuff and all the other construction or home improvement projects that are going to line up will take over your life for an extended period of time!

Best Resources to Search a Home

With online technology nowadays, your search is no longer at the mercy of your REALTOR because now all active MLS listings are available on the internet for you to look at. Zillow, REALTOR, Redfin, Trulia are just some of many online websites you can use to search for homes on sale and see their pictures.

You can provide the range and information about homes that you're looking for. For two of the three homes we bought, we've found them ourselves and then brought it to the attention to our REALTOR so that they can unlock the lockbox and let us see it. The only time we didn't need someone to open the door for us was when we went to an Open House, which we found out through Zillow by ourselves anyway.

Even though you can search homes online yourselves, having a great REALTOR can be very beneficial. The importance of having a REALTOR, especially an experienced one, is their connection to the community, handy men, the city government and their negotiation skills. They can read between the lines and counteroffers very skillfully and help you make a smart decision and deal. 

Making an Offer or Deal

During the pandemic, when the interest rates were low, many people were buying homes around our county and our friends struggled to find one where it wasn't snatched up so quickly. Even my son's teacher had expressed to me how frustrated she was when she made an offer on a home for over asking price and still not get it accepted, losing out to someone who offered over $100,000 above the asking price. It was pretty nuts! Now that the pandemic is over and the interest rates are very high, I don't see that issue anymore.

When you're ready to put in an offer, your REALTOR (buying agent) will draft up an agreement and then have you sign it, attaching a check (or wire directly) as earnest money. The typical amount of this earnest money varies from your geographic location/market and the general rule of thumb was different when I lived on the East Coast (considerably less) compared to the West Coast when the amount was more. Surprising, it's not a straight-up percentage calculation like many of the online articles would say from what I've done and seen in reality. Maybe this is different in your area. Your REALTOR will help you with what the appropriate general amount should be. After that has been discussed, she/he will meet or email the offer and earnest money information over to the other REALTOR, who is in charge of selling the home (listing agent) and usually, they'll get back to you within 24 hours. In your agreement, you can state the timeframe you'd like the seller to respond within so that you can focus on finding a different home and not be waiting around too long.

For two of the three homes we bought, we put in an offer that was less than their asking price. Both times, they counter-offered with something higher but still below their asking price. That's a good sign as that means, there are no competing offers at that very moment. That also means there can be some back and forth negotiating and for me, this process was quite stressful. It was like a game of ping pong with hours of waiting time in between hits.

Home Inspection and Termite Inspection After Accepting Your Offer

After they've accepted your buying offer on the house and it's in ink, your REALTOR will suggest a list of home inspection and termite inspection companies so that you can get professionals to look at your home and see if there are things under that surface that are broken or problem areas that need to be fixed before you officially buy the home. You don't want to move into a home to later find out that there is a huge rot issue or some other detrimental issues. Every area has a different list of to-dos that you'll need to be mindful of. Usually your REALTOR is the expert with these things and will guide you in the right direction.

Every time, we've gotten a home inspection, there's always something that needs fixing. It was never a perfect inspection for each time that we went through this process. We had to come back to the seller (through the REALTORS) to list those items from the home inspection to request them to fix it. There was only one time that the seller fixed the issues before our closing date. For the other two, they preferred to credit us the cost of fixing those items instead so that we'd be the one to fix it after the house closes. When this happens, this does add another layer of stress to you as a buyer because now you'll have an immediate list of home improvement projects to tackle right away before moving in.

Waiting for the House To Close

If the home inspection is looking good and/or you've worked out a credit deal to cover home issues from the home inspection, it's time to tell your bank/mortgage loan person that you're ready to move forward with buying the home so that it can go under escrow. This typically took us a month but it could be longer, depending on the company you went with. During this time, it's a good idea to get those home improvement projects a lot of thought to figure out the time and budget to focus on them.

This is also a good time to get those household items in boxes to prep for the move so that it's not so overwhelming last minute! In the past, I'd put a couple decent items I didn't need anymore for sale on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace every day during the waiting period and made some extra cash. It was quite fun and I didn't have to dump them in the trash. With Venmo and PayPal, you don't even need to even see the buyers in person. Just have them send you the money online and leave the things out on the porch for them to pick up around that agreed time. Because of the pandemic, no-contact transactions have been becoming quite normal and expected.

Closing Day and Getting the Keys

Before Closing Day, there will be a lot of papers to read and fill out! It'll cover how you're going pay the seller, any credits towards fixing anything and a lot of legal information. You'll be talking to your REALTOR and mortgage person a lot for the weeks leading to closing day. On the East Coast, our state required us to have a lawyer present and facilitate closing day. Luckily, in California, only a notary person needed to be present and process the paperwork. It was much easier and less formative (and less scary) in California. Once all of that has been notarized and you've signed your signatures in dozens of spots, your REALTOR will let you know when the money part is all cleared and set up a time to hand you the keys to your home.

Every time, I get the keys, I feel so relieved! More relieved than happiness, really. For all that paperwork, money and time, we exchanged it for something; a small key that'll unlock the home and our future. And also, the garage opener! We get the garage openers to the garages of the home too.

Moving Day and Bulk Items

Finally being able to move your stuff into your new home is going to be an amazing and/or very hectic day, depending on how prepared you are! In the past, I've went on the U-Haul's website to find last minute movers to move my refrigerator and other large appliances. It was really easy to pick a moving company from there and they also show their availability without having to call them directly. You can also find local moving companies as well but I wouldn't be surprised if they are listed as one of the businesses under U-Haul for local moving services.

Usually by time it's moving day, I've already put most of my things in cardboard boxes. You can sometimes find used moving cardboard boxes on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, if you don't want to spend more money and buy brand new ones. I've also gone to stores and asked for cardboard boxes as well.

Home Improvement Projects

If your home that you've just bought is not a brand new construction, chances are, you'll have some home improvement projects to do like we did. It took us about a good month before we could make our home livable when we bought an older home. 

If your home is a new construction, then you might have to buy new blinds like I did because it didn't come with blinds! Read my Lowe's and 3 Day Blinds Price Comparison blog entry.

Hopefully, you didn't plan any vacations close to your closing date because there is a chance that you're going to spend some money and time to personalize your new home and you'd want to take care of it quickly.

When you fill out a change of address form at the USPS, you should get a big packet of coupons mailed to your new home that you can use for your home improvement projects. USPS works with a lot of stores on this. This usually takes about a week to receive but it may take longer for you. In the past, I've received a coupon from Home Depot and Lowe's after I've filled out the change of address form and I was so grateful! If you're planning on making a big purchase at a home improvement store and it is not terribly urgent, it might be worth waiting for those coupons to arrive, especially for large appliances. It could save you hundred of dollars. Year round, Lowe's offer a 10% off discount for active military and veterans with proof of service, so we typically try to shop there instead of Home Depot because of the savings.

Celebration As Home Owners

After you've moved the very last item in to your new house, it's time to celebrate. You deserve it! All of that stress and time you've put into has resulted in a home that you now own. Pop the champagne!

Suggested Supplies for Your Big Move

• Large moving boxes or go on craigslist under the 'for sale' section for free used boxes
• Old newspapers to wrap dishes before putting them in boxes or buy new packing paper
• Temporary paper blinds for privacy if your place doesn't come with blinds
• A nice matching dining dish set for under $50
• Welcome mat
• An all season wreath
• Vacuum cleaner
• Broom and dustpan set
• Shop towels to clean the place

Note from Blogger:

Rules and regulations on buying a new home differs from state to state, county to county and/or city to city so check with your professional REALTOR and local government to make sure you're following the proper steps you'd need to take to protect yourself and your investment. Buying a hope is a very big deal! I'm only sharing about my personal buying experience and not a professional investor. Good luck in your home buying adventure!

I've been fortunate to have been able to accompany my kids' field trips as a chaperone for the last couple of years. Their school needed volunteers and I had the spare time to do it.
(picture of Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach)

Mistura does everything right! Located in Downtown San Luis Obispo, Mistura's ambiance is sleek, the service is sharp and the food and drinks are stand outs!

For a belated Valentine's Day celebration, my husband and I made a reservation online for Mistura for a Saturday.

We arrived about 15 minutes before our reservation after finding a metered parking spot. Luckily, we had coins because the meter we parked right by didn't not use the parking app that the other spots use in San Luis Obispo. Somehow we parked outside of the range but no matter, it was still a good parking spot because it was only a couple of blocks down from Mistura. After checking in with the host, I only had to wait a couple of minutes before we were seated.

We remembered that the restaurant takes great care of making our food and that it was going to be awhile before we'd get our entrees so we ordered a couple of cocktails and the presentation was excellent. I ordered the Cucumber Moonrise and then the Moon Lite. I stuck to a moon theme tonight. If I had to choose, I preferred the Cucumber Moonrise but they were both refreshing options. See pictures of the cocktails that I ordered below.

I was really hungry and ordered their Arroz Con Marisco (paella) as my entree as I loved it so much last time. The portion was big, the seafood on the dish were fresh and it came in a quintessential paella pan! I had leftovers to bring home.

After about 1.5 hours, we finished our meals and walked outside to take a downtown SLO stroll around the busy streets. It was packed with young people, old people, people with families and people on vacation! It's always fun to walk around downtown when there's time to do it. I really enjoyed our belated Valentine's Day dinner with my husband. Next time, I hope to have enough room in my stomach to try one of their beautiful desserts at Mistura.

Watch my instagram reel on my Mistura visit: https://www.instagram.com/p/Co2daGZpXs9/

Note about Mistura's restrooms: The men and women restaurants are separated from each other by a bar so if you need to use the women's restroom, make sure to walk to the farthest corner (left of the bar) to find it. The men's restroom is perpendicular to the host's desk.

Mistura Address: 570 Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

My Reviews for Other Restaurants That I've Visited in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County:

• Oyster Loft in Pismo Beach
• Granada Hotel & Bistro is a great place for a staycation and dinner. Read our staycation experience at the Granada Hotel & Bistro.
• Ember Restaurant in Arroyo Grande has a monthly menu with highly creative dishes and indoor and outdoor seating options. See my instagram video reel of our visit at Ember and the dishes we tried.
  
• SeaVenture Restaurant in Pismo Beach, inside of SeaVenture Beach Hotel
• Ventana Grill in Shell Beach (popular choice for Shell Beach)
• Pono Pacific Kitchen (Hawaiian/Pacific fusion in Grover Beach)
• Gardens of Avila Restaurant (part of Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort)
  
• 1865 Craft House & Kitchen in San Luis Obispo 
• The Galley Seafood and Grill in Morro Bay
• Copper Field Cafe & Bakery (famous desserts in SLO; part of Madonna Inn property)

We drove 4 hours south to Orange County in Southern California to do a Great Wolf Lodge Getaway for our son's birthday celebration this month! Instead of having a party, we decided to take a road trip and spend the weekend at their kid-friendly waterpark. Great Wolf Lodge has an indoor waterpark with slides, toddler area, lazy river and more. It's a perfect place for kids who want to play in the water during wintery weather. Best yet, we didn't have to really leave the resort because they also had a few restaurants inside.

When you book a room at the Great Wolf Lodge, it includes entry to the waterpark so there is an added convenience and it's located within the property. This made it a very pleasant experience for adults too as it made the trip so easy to plan. Scroll down to see more pictures from our waterpark stay below with our thoughts about our entire Great Wolf Lodge Getaway.

Wolf Den Suite

There were many rooms to choose from when I researched online on the Great Wolf Lodge's website. We decided to reserve the Wolf Den Suite, which was just a bit more expensive than their standard double bed room type. Sometimes they run seasonal deals with a promo code, which you'd have to manually enter to see the discounted deal. That was what we did.

We're so happy that we chose the Wolf Den Suite for our stay. The Wolf Den Suite has bunk beds (that's perfect for our two sons), 1 queen bed and a full sleeper sofa. You can sleep up to 6 people in this room but we're a family of four and felt that if we had 2 more adults, it might seem uncomfortable. However, I think if you had 2 adults and 4 non-teen kids in your family, selecting this room type makes a lot of sense.

Link to a video tour of our room that our family stayed in at Great Wolf Lodge.

We loved the cave theme of our room and additionally we also added on the Birthday Fun Package to our room which included: a birthday banner on the door of our room, a set of balloons inside, a voucher for a cake and birthday theme napkins, plates and utensils. I thought this made our stay much more eventful and my birthday boy looked really happy when he saw all of this already set-up when we've arrived to our room. It was an additional cost but it was worth it to us. One thing to note is that the birthday cake that came with the Birthday Fun package was way too big for our party of 4. I think this package would be great for a bigger group. Here's a picture of our birthday cake below.

It's a 1/4 sheet sized cake, which I think is big enough to feed 10 - 15 people for dessert. We had to redeem our birthday cake voucher and pick the cake up at the Bear Paw Sweets & Eats, which is on L1 level. 

Bear Track Waterpark

When we arrived at Great Wolf Lodge on a Friday evening, we didn't make it to the waterpark as it was too late. However, the next morning, we beelined to the waterpark right before it opened. The waterpark, which is called Bear Track Landing Waterpark inside of Great Wolf Lodge Anaheim, is located on L1 (one level below the Lobby level). You can take the elevator to get there from any room floor. While we were there during the weekend, the waterpark was open between 9AM - 8PM. There were many chairs and tables but the tables get claimed very quickly. So, the sooner you get there, the better if you're looking for a table for your group. Each morning, we got in line 15 minutes before 9AM so that we could maximize our experience there.

My kids really enjoyed the waterpark and the many things we could do there together. The birthday boy's favorite waterpark feature was the Howlin' Tornado for bigger kids. The raft of the Howlin' Tornado fits 2 - 4 riders at a time. It was so exciting for us! He is over 48 inches now so he was able to go on that with me. We bonded over how scary certain parts were and got off the raft with big smiles!

There were also a couple of sections that were better for the little kids with less-scary slides like Fort MacKenzie. Even adults like me enjoyed them.

Breakfast at Loose Moose

Another awesome convenience with staying at the Great Wolf Lodge is that there were a few restaurants on property inside of the Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim to choose from. We ordered pizza from Hungry As A Wolf by the arcade (also on L1 floor) for both evenings while we were there and enjoyed breakfast at the Loose Moose in the mornings because it was a buffet and this made breakfast a breeze for our family. After the server at the Loose Moose found out it was my son's birthday at our first breakfast, without having to request it, they came by with a cupcake later on to sing a unique Great Wolf Lodge birthday song to him that ended with a howl! 

I prepaid for a breakfast package for both mornings, thinking that it would save us money and time as the package also included non-alcoholic drinks and tip as well. In retrospect, it might have been cheaper if I hadn't done the pre-paid breakfast package. My husband typically drinks water with his meals and one of my sons didn't feel like eating one morning because he was still so tired. You can only redeem the breakfast slip once per day so the whole party had to be there for breakfast at the restaurant to redeem it so we couldn't stagger our visits where two of us could eat before the other two.

Lobby Area and Other Resort Activities

I really liked the high ceilings of the Great Wolf Lodge as I entered the property. We self-parked in their parking structure instead of valet parked because it was significantly more expensive to valet park. We used the elevators from the parking structure to get to the L1 level to head to the lobby. Once entering the lobby, the check-in desk would be to the left after passing the Loose Moose restaurant on the right-hand side and the candy shop on the left-hand side. Checking in was a smooth process. However, if you are self-parking, you'll need to alert them to exchange your white ticket, that you received from the parking structure machine when you entered the parking structure, with their blue parking pass, which you'd then scan on your way in and out of the parking structure in order to open the gate each time.

It was nice roaming around Great Wolf Lodge. Every day, there were resort activities in the lobby for kids. Activities included: bingo, arts & crafts, yoga and more.

There was a lot of room on the lobby level to just sit around and hang out.

During our trip, we used the waterpark, played in their arcade, did the MagiQuest scavenger hunt and relaxed. We had a very fun weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim. To my surprise, my sons actually preferred coming here over Disneyland!

Things I would do differently next time:

• Get a waterproof pouch for my phone so I could take more pictures in the waterpark without fear of ruining my phone. I didn't take any pictures while I was in the water and wish I had been able to take some.
• Not get the Pre-paid Breakfast Package so we had more flexibility on what we wanted to do for breakfast on a whim.
• There was no microwave in our room. We had leftover pizza that we could store because our room had a mini-fridge, but we couldn't it heat up. Our thought is since we drove to the Great Wolf Lodge with our car, bringing a mini air fryer with us to the room would have been an easy solution. However, it might set off smoke detectors in our room and get us in trouble if we use it. I don't know if they have a hard rule about not bringing in your own kitchen appliances, but I may need to do some research on a solution to heat up leftovers for a future visit. I read online afterwards that there is a community microwave on each floor by the ice machine. We didn't make our way to the ice machine during our stay so didn't know. However, I'll make sure to locate the microwave by the ice machine next time!

My Other Family Getaway Reviews:

• 4 Nights Family Royal Caribbean Cruise on Navigator of the Seas


• 3 Nights Carnival Cruise to Ensenada Out of Los Angeles Port


• 5 Nights at the Moon Palace The Grand Cancun Family Vacation Review


• 11 Nights Alaska Cruise on Princess Cruise Out of San Francisco Port


• Family Los Angeles Trip and Visit to Mattel Toy Store


• LEGOLAND Castle Hotel & LEGOLAND California Family Trip


• Family Visit to California Academy Sciences in San Francisco


• Read about our trip to Universal Studios Hollywood to check out Super Nintendo World during our Spring Break.

Major Attractions in Southern California

Great Wolf Lodge in Southern California is between 20 minutes to an hour drive from nearby major attractions. Here are ticket offerings for attractions online.

Knott's Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm is only a 20 minute drive from Great Wolf Lodge Southern California (if no traffic).
You can secure discounted Knott's Berry Farm tickets online for less than gate price from arestravel.

Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is a 57 minute drive from Great Wolf Lodge Southern California (if no traffic).
 See Universal Studios Hollywood Ticket Offerings.

Earlier this afternoon, we had a Signature wine tasting flight at Alpha Omega Collective in Downtown Paso Robles. It had just grand opened a couple of days ago so this was their first weekend of opening.

The inside of the tasting room is very sleek and cozy. We can tell the staff there are seasoned in the industry. They are calm, professional and attentive. We really enjoyed our experience there and loved that it is literally right by the Downtown City Park in Downtown Paso Robles. 

I always like to compare the Downtown Paso Robles area to Downtown San Luis Obispo because they are both located within the San Luis Obispo County. I feel like Downtown Paso Robles has done so many things right! They have a centralized park with a playground, many wine tasting rooms, different types of restaurants and little neat shops scattered around several blocks. Best of all, it is very easy to walk around Downtown Paso Robles because it is flat! Downtown San Luis Obispo, on the other hand, is very hilly. You can read about my Downtown San Luis Obispo staycation at the Granada Hotel & Bistro and pictures of the places we visited in the Downtown SLO area. 

Alpha Omega Collective has selections from three different wineries: Tolosa (Edna Valley), Perinet (Spain) and Alpha Omega (Napa Valley). We like this variety and it was very nice to be able to taste something from Napa Valley without having to visit Napa Valley!

We are Tolosa Winery wine club members and was able to enjoy complimentary tastings here as they are sister properties. Because of Alpha Omega Collective's addition here in Paso Robles, we are going to definitely continue to remain members of Tolosa Winery for another year. Tolosa Winery is located in Edna Valley of San Luis Obispo, California. Read my full review on Tolosa Winery, Alpha Omega Collective's sister winery.

Reading Suggestions:

• Read about other wineries that I've visited in Edna Valley and Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County.


• See my top 10 favorite local wineries in Edna Valley and Paso Robles, as a local.


• See this IG reel of different wine tasting rooms that I've personally visited.

We get visitors coming to visit us at least once a year and we'd take them wine tasting in our county and if there is a bottle that we all really like, we'd buy one to save for later at the house. It's really elevated our home parties, especially if we've all visited that very winery together. I've gotten really good at opening a bottle of wine with a regular wine cork opener but if you feel like being fancy, you can check out some wine cork bottle openers that doesn't require pulling strength.