Offerred a house

[Nishu]

In housing. It's a new construction four bedroom. I'm kind of split on whether to take it. Here's the break down...

Current house

BAH this year is 1577
Rent ... 1195 (They may raise it. Not sure.)
Electric ... 70-90
Water ... 100 ( I think per month. they bill funny though)
Trash ... 30 (Again- I think... they bill funny too.)
Gas 35-80 a month depending on time of year.

The Rub is there's only 3 bedrooms and it's about a half hour drive for Russ to get to work. Since he's gone half the time the half hour drive isn't terribly important though I suppose. The house is really small. It's livable but quite small. We live on a hill and there are no sidewalks so it's not really pedestrian or kid friendly. Neighbors are nice but I really don't know them. We have to do our own yardwork, which doesn't sound like a big deal except when you have 2 kids and you're pregnant and your husband is gone... or when you have 2 kids and a baby and your husband is gone.

I'm really sick of moving though. Because of the timing of the move I'd also be doing it myself.



Base House
Pay would be minus 1577
No water bill
No trash bill
No electric bill
No gas bill

Also, we're entitled to a courtesy move so the move won't cost me anything and I won't even have to pack. They'll do it for me. The drive would be much shorter for my husband, about 10 minutes if that. The neighborhood would be much more kid friendly. I haven't seen the house yet but I'm sure there will be a playground within walking distance. The commissary, the exchange and lots of other base things will be really close. I think we'll have a fence too. They would do all the yard work except for what's fenced in. That would be really nice...

The big problem is that the house will be available on Feb 15 and my lease is up on March 15. I think we can suck it up and pay rent without getting BAH for one month. We'll be here for another year and a half so I think it would probably work out for the best.

Ok, now that I've written it down I think I'm going to go ahead and take the house. Thanks for your help guys, you're awesome.

[Greebo]

BAH - basic allowance for housing?

Looks like its just about a wash financially. If you talk to your landlord you might be able to get out a couple weeks early, getting you out of your last months rent too. A lot of landlords won't mind letting you out early as long as they have time to prepare to get the place rented again.

Glad we could help.

[Nishu]

Yeah she's super nice so it wouldn't surprise me if she let us out of it. The only thing is, they were planning on moving in to the house we're in to retire in. They said (in March) that they were looking at moving back in about 2-3 years. I hope they weren't hoping that we would stay for 2 years so that it would put the timing right at their moving back date. It's been really nice for us though because several people we know have been kicked out because the owners were looking at foreclosure. This wasn't meant as an investment property so I think we lucked out.

Actually now that I think of it I shouldn't have asked them to hold the house for a month. Then we would have to be moved out and moved in all in one day. That doesn't make whole heck of a lotta sense.

[Rebookie]

It sounds wonderful!!!

[Nishu]

BAh is housing allowance. Didn't mean to ignore you there. I actually don't know what each letter stands for but that's what bah is.

[missyali]

Sounds great! New year, new house! Good luck with the move.

[Nishu]

I saw my house today! It's really nice. It's orange but it's nice.

And I can't believe I spelled 'offerred' like that. What a dope.

[MomToTwoBoys]

BAH = Basic Allowance for Housing



Yay for remembering silly military terminology from being in the Marine Corps!

[Mom23boys]

Good luck with the move! It sounds like a good plan.

[Whr2nxt]

I'm glad you decided to take the house. I've done it both ways. Living off base and pocket the BAH and lived on base. For me the convience of living on base and cutting the drive time to work for my husband has been a big help. Especially depending on where your located. In Hawaii we lived off base at first only 17 miles away but it would take over an hour in rush hour traffic...so not worth it! Congrats!

[Nishu]

Thanks again for your thoughts guys.

The rep from the property management co just emailed me a floor plan. My bathroom is 18 feet long and has two sinks, a garden tub in the corner and separate shower. There's some other awesome stuff about it but I just wanted to give you the highlights. It's by far the nicest place I've ever lived in.

[Laura2]

That's wonderful! I hope the move to your new home goes smoothly!

[Nishu]

I haven't heard back from my husband so I'm not exactly sure if he knows we're moving. They don't allow extremely personal or potentially upsetting emails get to them on the boat so I don't even know if the email made it to him.

I'm so excited about moving!