Base Housing Pros/Cons

[Guest CrazyErnie]

My family and I will be hoping to be at UPT in 2008. For those of you who live in the base housing, what utilities/services do you pay? Trying to make the "Do we live on base?" decision. Also, does your housing vary depending on the size of your family? We only have 2 kids, but want to compare to an off base equally adequate living space.

-Crazy

[Guest KM]

This is changing as bases move towards privatized housing, but you generally do not pay for utilities or other services like trash pickup, etc.

Yes, the size of your house depends on the size of your family...but it also depends on what is available when you show up. Of course they try to put larger families in larger houses, but sometimes it's all about luck and timing. My husband and I had a 3 bed/2 bath house in UPT, and we have no kids.

Do you know what base you'll be assigned to? The "live on base or not" decision will largely depend on your base since in some areas (i.e. Del Rio) you won't have many other options.

[Guest PilotKD]

Phone and cable TV, if you choose to have them.

[Guest PilotKD]

It's a sweet deal IMO...I like the fact I have a 1.5 min drive to work every morning. There's nothing better than only having to drive 1.5 min at 5 am when buddies are driving 15 min. Doesn't sound like a huge difference, but to me, 10 min of sleep is worth killing for. And yes, we only pay for satellite and internet...everything else including trash is paid for. But as mentioned above, look out for privatization. Personally I don't plan on living on base after UPT...it's fine and all, but I'd rather have my own house off base w/o all their gay rules/regs and the "landlord" mentality they have here. But, I think it's still a good decision for at least UPT.

It's got its pros and cons. Some base housing is a step above "da projects" and you probably couldn't pay me to live there, but we lucked out and were at a base that had brand new houses. We were the first to live in it and it was great (approx 2,200 sq ft besides!). Like you said, it was great to only drive 1.5 miles to work every day, but at the same time, I was getting about 15 mpg in a car that normally got 22 around town because it barely warmed up by the time I got to the squadron. Oh well. Not to mention, it was a 15 mile drive to the nearest civilization from the base, so going down town to shop or get dinner took 20-25 minutes or so, but of course we didn't go downtown every day. For the most part, we saved a lot of money living on base. Just about everything you'd need is on base at reduced/tax free prices and or free of charge (commissary, Bx, post office, chapel, gym, you name it). My BAH wouldn't have covered the cost of a mortgage on a comparable sized house downtown with utilities and I didn't have to put a downpayment on it either.

On the other side of the fence, it is a royal pain in the arse when you leave. My advice is to PAY SOMEONE TO CLEAN THE PLACE. Normally there will be several well-known maid services who people use on base when PCS'ing out of base housing. They are VERY anal about the way the house should look when you check out. I mean down to a 1mm spot on the inside of your oven from something you baked 3 years ago. I'm not joking around. It was THAT rediculous and we were dealing with this horse crap a day before I was supposed to get on the road. My wife and I are pretty much neat freaks and aside from very minimal, normal wear and tear here and there, the house was immaculate and this guy gave us a hard time about the most minuscule things. After almost blowing my lid, I finally said, "Look, we are leaving tomorrow whether you pass us or not. I'll leave a key under the door mat outside.". Needless to say, we passed.

Beware of high installation costs on cable/internet. If I remember correctly, I think we paid something like $100 to install one cable box and a cable modem that I had bought myself. All the guy had to do was run a line to it and he was out in like 20 minutes. I thought $100 was a bit obcene, but that's how these companies take advantage of military members.

[Techsan]

Ern-

If the base you are moving to has quite a bit of on-base housing available, you can most likely get a 4 BR house. However, if the base has limited housing available (as it is here at Travis), you have to have at least 3 kiddos to get a 4BR.

Another positive, in addition to what PilotKD said, is that you can keep your house as cold/as warm as you would like without having to pay out the arse in utilities. The last time I lived on base, my house was always a meat locker during the summer months.

[Guest Burrito]

Rather than start a new thread about housing, I'm putting my question here. With this whole privatized housing deal we are pretty much renting houses that happen to be on base. The housing company here at Columbus is allowed to take my max BAH, which is $1106 for O1E 10 yr, but my neighbor is only paying $800 something because he's an O1 4 yr.. So pretty much housing, our landlord, is charging me more because I make more? Something tells me that outside of the military this may be illegal? Does anyone else out there find this a little fishy? And why does the military allow this?

[M2]

Burrito

No, it is not illegal any more than it would be for an O-3 living next to you being charged even more. I never lived in privatized housing on base, but from what I understand it is the same as the old base housing situation where you simply forfeit your BAH/VHA.

As for the original post, there are many pros/cons to living on base. For one, you can pretty much commute via bicycle and save yourself the wear and tear on your car for the 1.5 ride into work. At Ramstein my second car, a lemon lot BMW, became the squadron car until one of the guys that used it the most offered to buy it from me when I PCS'd. I told him why wait, he was driving it more than I was! Plus, at some bases you are within walking distance of the BX and Commissary, plus at Ramstein we had the 24-hr shoppette and movie theater within a 5-minute walk.

But, there are some down sides. We were in stairwells our last year at Ramstein, and for those who haven't been to Europe that is basically an apartment block. Despite the German winters, we never turned on the heat as the couple below us had theirs cranked and it heated up the entire building. As a matter of fact, we would crack the windows open (European windows are great!) to get some fresh air in. Secondly, in stairwells you know everything that is going on in the building as you hear it firsthand. But at UPT bases you will most likely be in individual houses or duplexes. They may not be the most modern or spacious accommodations but they will suffice for the year. Also, you are expected to abide by the base regs on how to maintain your house, such as the height of shrubs cannot exceed a certain limit and you must mow your yard so often; but usually that is not much more than what any homeowner’s association would require. Plus there is the added security of living on base…I don’t recall many burglaries happening on base while I was in but I am sure it has happened once or twice; but not nearly as often as they do off base.

Considering what you would get renting/leasing a house off base for a year, I think it is a smart move for a UPT stud with a family to live on base. It makes life easier for everyone involved, and you still get the thrill of watching planes fly over your house. However, once you get to your primary base I would recommend living off base, especially overseas. For one, Stateside it is usually a good investment as compared to throwing rent away for 3-4 years (even if you lose a little money when you sell the place, it is nothing compared to the amount you toss when you simply rent. Consider at $1200/mo, in three years you lose $43,200 and get no tax breaks from owning). And overseas you get a much better cultural experience living on the economy. Sure, it may cost a little more; but that is why you get COLA! I wouldn’t trade our time off base in Germany or Belgium for the world!

Cheers! M2

[The Kayla]

Rather than start a new thread about housing, I'm putting my question here. With this whole privatized housing deal we are pretty much renting houses that happen to be on base. The housing company here at Columbus is allowed to take my max BAH, which is $1106 for O1E 10 yr, but my neighbor is only paying $800 something because he's an O1 4 yr.. So pretty much housing, our landlord, is charging me more because I make more? Something tells me that outside of the military this may be illegal? Does anyone else out there find this a little fishy? And why does the military allow this?

The military allows this because they no longer have to deal with housing, as long as the Civies kiss the right asses, and make those asses happy, who the phuck cares about us pea-ons who actually LIVE and have to deal with these stupid ass civilians. I HATE privatizing, if you couldn't tell. I don't see where our BAH is going, besides to the cheesy "Neighborhoods at Vance" newsletters that we get monthly. AND, let's not forget that the "welcoming center" and Maintence building are taking up TWO homes, where TWO families could be living in!!!

My husband is an 01E w/10 as well.

I don't think it's fair for the Lt. Col's who live in a house maybe slightly bigger then mine.

OH! and let's not forget about the list of band breeds that every privatized base has. I mean, I guess it's way too much to think that maybe people in the military, officer and enlisted, might be a little bit more responsible and carring. I guess military memebers are able enough to make the desicion to fight and possibly die for their country, yet they aren't able to keep certain dogs.

Sorry, that hits close to home. I have a rottie, and the only reason why I still am able to live on base is because I am "grand-fathered" in, since I lived on base before it was privatized. But, if we move to Randolph, we would have to live off base.

[Spartacus]

I couldn't agree with Kayla more. GMH is the devil. We moved on base before the privatization and then had to sign their new contract after GMH took over. This was all during pilot training... and then I FAIPed. We thought that it would be a good idea to buy a house and GMH absolutely screwed us over, and we even waited till our contract was up. Because of the dishonest GMH losers we lost over $1,000 because of their antics. Avoid GMH like the plague... seriously if you can afford it you will most likely be better off by not living on base if GMH is control. BTW did I say that I hate GMH? Oh, yeah sorry, but anyway... GMH SUCKS!

[Herk Driver]

Overseas housing is not privatized; as far as I know. I live OFF-post and suggest that you do as well.

[Guest newbie]

Rather than start a new thread about housing, I'm putting my question here. With this whole privatized housing deal we are pretty much renting houses that happen to be on base. The housing company here at Columbus is allowed to take my max BAH, which is $1106 for O1E 10 yr, but my neighbor is only paying $800 something because he's an O1 4 yr.. So pretty much housing, our landlord, is charging me more because I make more? Something tells me that outside of the military this may be illegal? Does anyone else out there find this a little fishy? And why does the military allow this?

I've asked this question at a town hall meeting and I've been told "that's the way it always has been"...I guess they haven't heard of substandard housing where you get a part of your BAH back. I think it's unfair as well, especially when I see O-1's living in the same house as we are as a O-5.