I just read my friend Suzanne's blog and I just want to address military housing and how the system really sucks. See, everyone thinks base housing is so great. And for the most part, it is. You don't pay any rent or utilities, one phone call (usually) and stuff gets fixed for free, and you're in such a tight-knit community that you almost always leave with new friendships. But what people don't realize is just what you have to go through to get to live on post.
First thing that usually happens when you arrive to a new post is you get put in a hotel for 10 days (it's a little different for overseas). First stop you make is to the housing office where you're told just exactly what you can get and how long the wait will be. Since at the time it was only the three of us, we were only allowed a 2 bedroom house. After explaining we were planning on another baby, the guy looked me right in the face and said, "Bring back a positive pregnancy test in 30 days and we'll change it." Yeah, that didn't happen. Also, each area has it's own waiting list and the times all vary. After picking a nice house we were told the wait would be about a year for this particular area. So we got on the less than nice list and we're told the wait is about 4-6 months but since all the areas are contracted out, we need to go down to that area's specific office to see the exact wait time. We were then told the wait was more like 8 months because the turnaround time at Ft. Bragg is so slow.
So what to do while you're waiting for housing? The Army won't pay for you to stay in a hotel for that long so you're off to an apartment or rental house. Yes, the Army will pay you extra for living off post BUT there are some two really big trade offs: 1. You need to find something that is affordable and 2. You want a nice place to live. And guess what, you're either going to get one or the other.
After much discussing and driving around looking at apartments, we decided to buy a house. By this time we had about 5 of our 10 days left so we paid for 4 more days out of pocket to make it an even 2 weeks. We ended up getting a house that was less than desirable but we made it work to the point that we can now expect a profit when this house sells.
Now you see that base housing isn't "free". We pay for it with our sanity and once you do have it, you don't want to let go because you'll have to go through the process all over again. Truthfully, Jason and I will never live on post again. Why waste the equity we've already gained and the way I see it, if the Army is going to pay us extra, might as well use it. Sure we're responsible for everything that goes wrong but at least I can say, "These walls are mine and I can paint them any color I want!"
3 comments:
I've been reading Suzanne's blog too and feel for her....I really do.
We (the kids and I) didn't get to travel to Germany concurrently with my husband because there was no housing. The garrison commander had a rule in effect: If housing was projected to be available within 90 days, off-post housing would NOT be granted. And neither would concurrent travel. So, for 7 1/2 weeks, I lived out of a suitcase. Good thing my son was outgrowing stuff, so we could get rid of it.
As housing gets privatized, I think it gets worse. We've been here at FR-K for 2 years now. We signed in for housing (we were manditorily moved from Germany when the 1st ID returned to the states as an entire division, so we got to fight the other 1500 soldiers looking for housing too) and were told the wait was 5-6 months. We were 18th on the list for where we qualified (company grade 3 bedroom housing), but the first 13 on the list were returns from Korea, so they got priority 1...which should have been the same for us since it was a DIVISION move, not a single family PCS). We looked in desperation for a house to buy...then to rent...then we started looking at apartments/duplexes...which is what we got. A few weeks later, we got a call from housing telling us we would have something in September (which I found unacceptable, because I didn't want to register my daughter in the local school district only to have to move her a month later). But then they found out we signed a year lease. Guess what? When they privatize, they no longer give you orders to post housing...meaning you can't break your lease. So we got screwed. Then we got dumped from the housing list when another soldier by the same name as my husband was given OUR quarters and our name was booted as a duplicate (except HE was a CPT and my hubs was a CW2). They still, to this day, have us on the housing list, pending lease end. Problem for us? Our landlord requires us to sign our lease in MARCH, even though it doesn't expire till end of July...because it's a college town and the college kids come looking in March to get their rentals for the next year. So...if we DON'T sign in March, they rent the unit out from under us. Sucks all the way around.
The benefits sucks. You can make them work if you have to, but they do totally suck.
The fact that those guys coming back from Korea got priority is garbage. We came to Bragg right after Jason came from Korea and we certainly did NOT get priority. We may have been bumped up on the list but we were still left waiting 8 months! The only thing nice I can say about privatization is that the housing IS nicer. Just good luck trying to get in it.
Wow, they really do put people through torture to live on post, don't they? The whole lease thing is such a mess, too. Wow. One of these days we'll buy, but not in Hawaii! A house to fit our needs out here goes for about $750,000--and that's just for something decent, not anything luxurious or anything. I'm glad you have made your house a good thing for you. =)
Post a Comment