Dutch/American family moving questions

I’m Dutch born&raised, my wife is American. We want to relocate to the Netherlands with our twins in about year. Kids will be 4. I work freelance for Dutch companies from the US and have done well for the past 10 years, my wife has a good job now but will need to find another one in NL (ideally before but likely after we move). We own our US home (in a HCL metro area) and hope to sell it for a good amount. I’ve previously lived in A’dam, Leiden, Utrecht. Would love input on:

• How difficult is the home buying process and how important is income vs down payment? I’ve heard stories of friends buying with 0% down, here in the US 20% down is customary. Will putting more money down help if one of us works freelance/ZZP?
• Coming from a big US city, where would you move? I’d love to live in Amsterdam again, but the real estate market there sounds insane. But maybe it’s insane everywhere?
• if you’ve made a similar move, what is something you didn’t consider that surprised you - good or bad?