Let the boat shopping begin

In search for our dream boat, we went on a few boat tours while in Fort Lauderdale. Boat shopping is sooooo fun! We checked out the Leopard 45’, 48’ and 50’ Catamarans. They were beautiful to say the least. We are total newbies at this whole thing so we don’t have the lingo down yet so please pardon the lack of knowledge:). Since we started this idea of living on a sailboat we had done tons of research and narrowed it down to a few boats. The layout of the Leopard 48 has been our fave because of the roomy interior. We are a family of 5 so we keep thinking we will need space while out on the water. Although we are coming from 4 years of living in an RV so we are used to small, compact spaces. Actually a boat will give us a ton more room and a bedroom for each of the kids. What is funny about that, I know they will all want to end up sleeping with us every night. I’m serious! The tour of the brand new Leopard 45’ and Leopard 50’ were unreal and gorgeous. The space was amazing, we would love either of them however they are definitely out of our budget at the moment lol We now know that having a fly bridge is a MUST! Like Terry from Just Catamarans said he is a sucker for a fly bridge- WE RELATE!!! While back in Vegas we were living vicariously through all of the sailing YouTube channels and thought the Leopard 48 was the jam but now we realize how important a fly bridge is. Being up top with a view is huge. Our recent sailing trip had 2 of the kids feeling queasy and the fly bridge helped them a lot. There are so many things we need to think about before purchasing a boat, if anyone has advice we would love some pointers. What are some newbie things we should definitely know before buying? How do you feel about a fly bridge? A must or no? It’s so inspiring seeing so many new families out there and the OG families that have been doing it for a while. I have no idea how long it will take us to find the perfect boat but we are so excited and love watching all of the YouTube families out there sailing around having a blast.