House Buying While in the Military

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When you are in the military sometimes the last thing you think about is house buying. However it will happen! You will get to a duty station, fall in love with the town and then begin to look for a home to call yours when you get out or even while you are still enlisted. It happened with my parents, grandparents, great- grandparents, and so on. they all discovered towns that they just fell in love with and knew that was the place they wanted to raise their children.

There are several things to consider such as  if you can get a VA Loan or will your children be attending school in the area. Military kids can change schools 6-9 times during their school career which can be difficult for them.  We managed to stay at the same school once my father found the town he wanted to settle in. He did the same when he was younger. My grandfather went to his duty stations while the family stayed in one place, with the exception of German, and a few other stations. Another thing to consider is the cost of housing in the area and what your housing allowance is or will be. Military housing can have a huge waiting list and there are some places that do not have housing available for families.

So searching in the surrounding area with help you get a better idea of what your costs are going to be. If you are renting a house and love it then ask the owner if they are considering selling. It won’t hurt to ask and while they may say no there is always the possibility they will say yes. If they are not when you are reassigned to your new station ask the owner to keep you in mind if they ever do decide to sell. Give them the number of a relative they can contact who knows how to get in touch with you.That is what my father did and when the time came we were able to purchase the house that we had lived in previously and loved. The area was one we were familiar with and we loved the schools. It was like coming home for us which made everything all that more perfect.