Living on Base
From the very beginning, John and I always said that we would always live off base, pretty much no matter what. For us, it has always made more sense to live off of the installation, and pocket the extra BAH (basic allowance for housing) money. Sure, maybe he’d have to drive a little further to work, but even with factoring in gas money, we’d still come out winning. After house hunting in Hawaii, we changed our minds pretty quickly. Well sort of. My mind was changed pretty quickly, it took some convincing on my part to get my other half to agree.
As we searched the internet for suitable housing, it became clear to me that it was going to take some work to find the perfect place within our price range. We needed something with at least four bedrooms that would take Caesar. He’s a 75 pound dog, and most rentals weren’t willing to accept pets over 20 pounds. John also insisted on having central AC. First of all, many homes down here are only rocking the window units. Plus I’ve heard that the power bills can get hefty on the island. Also, with the terrible traffic, I had no interest in waiting an hour from the time my husband got off of work until he got home.
Miraculously, I convinced my dear husband that we should at least try living on-post. If it was totally awful, we could search again once our lease was up after a year.
After living in our house on-post for five months, we’re both pretty happy with my decision. We literally live five minutes from John’s office. It came in handy yesterday when he urgently needed me to drop stuff off for him. Twice. When he takes command of a company, we’ll be about 2 minutes away from the battalion/brigade. He’ll be able to walk to PT every.single.morning.
I love that the girls and I can walk to the PX in a matter of minutes, and that the commissary and clinics are just as close. I have yet to become involved in any sort of volunteer activity, but the short commute time will definitely beat the half hour that I was doing each way in Georgia.
So far, the housing company and our community center have been awesome. When things break, they come out quickly to fix them. Just last week they came out and redid the landscaping out front, after I complained that the previous tenants had destroyed everything that was alive.
We’re even getting money back each month for utilities, since we stay well under the average usage for the neighborhood.
For now, I’m enjoying living on post and all of the conveniences. But, I can say that without a doubt, we’ll be buying another property at our next CONUS duty station. It only makes sense to have something that is ours, and then rent it and have the tenants paying our mortgage for us when it’s time to move on.
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I searched forever too to find a place here. Hawaii is just not dog friendly for renters. I’m glad you guys are liking your home on base so far. I think for what we pay on base for a house would be a closet size home with no ac out in town. I think you guys made the right decision. But I’m with you on getting a house off base next duty station.
We’ve lived in military housing twice now, and I absolutely love it! I’m not interested in owning and keeping up property (maybe someday, but not now) and so I LOVE that I can make a phone call and they will come fix anything I need! It’s so convenient!
I like living off-post here but I think I would want to go on in Hawaii too.
Your housing looks so nice! With the CG not every place has housing which can be good and bad. We live on base now and I love that Mike’s a 5 minute walk away from work but I miss privacy and not sharing a wall with neighbors. Our house is on a corner off the main road that goes through base so there’s always people driving by or the classes running by, and the street is higher than our backyard so literally everyone can see into our yard.
After doing one of each, I honestly kind of like living on post. I don’t have to deal with stupid landlords (like the one I have now), I don’t have to do yardwork, I’m incredibly close to the gym/dog park/commissary… I know sometimes I would find myself trapped on post and not leaving for a few days, but in the grand scheme of it, I kind of like it better. I’ve already told B that I want to live on post wherever we head to next. I want to find out ASAP so we can get on the waitlist.
We applied for on post housing at Bragg (but turned it down due to major family drama) and at Gordon (where we would’ve been moving in several weeks after Mac’s course started). I lived on base growing up, and it can be a good option. In places like Hawaii, it definitely makes more sense than at other posts.
We only lived in housing once and that was for about 7 months in Okinawa. We moved off base as soon as they would let us. We do have a house in Missouri that we rented for a few years, but we are trying to sell it now. Dealing with renters who don’t like to pay and a management company who only have listens to you isn’t fun. This is my second house and I’m not ready to jump the gun on owning another. Someday, but not till we are retired and settled.
We said we would never live on base. It worked out for us for 7 years and 7 moves. But when we had an unexpected disaster in the house we were renting and it was winter here in the tundra, on base had a house big enough to accommodate us. We don’t like it, as far as living goes. The benefit is chris is seven minutes to work. But we are 20 minutes to Ace’s school. So I think once we pcs we won’t look on post again.
This is the first time that we have ever not lived on post and we are so happy. haha. Everyone is different though.
I’ve never lived on post and only considered it when PCSing here to Hawaii. We were on the list for Schofield but, for a variety of reasons, ended up buying a house. I often wonder what it would be like to live on post and the conveniences it would bring, but I also love our house and our neighborhood — which is at least 50% military families! For monetary reasons it often seems to make more sense to live on post in Hawaii, but for other places it makes more sense to live off-post and pocket that BAH like you said!
I think it depends a lot on where you are stationed also. I think you have it set up super cute though. I love the flag!
We were just like you guys. Didn’t want to live on-base at all. But our first duty station was Guam. And it was the same as your situation in Hawaii. So we went with base housing. And loved it! We lived off-base in Virginia, on-base here in CA, and have a house picked out off-base in PA.
I have friend who is currently en route to Hawaii. They’re having a really hard time with the lack of suitable housing! The base housing looks decent from your photo. Plus, after three years of living nearly 45 minutes from base, I can definitely see the appeal of being so close to your husband’s work.
Your house is so cute! We never considered on post housing here in Hawaii just because we wanted work/life seperation and so far it hasn’t been an issue. Crossing my fingers the rest of Dane’s command is smooth sailing!
Depending on the duty station, living on base just feels safer, in my opinion, too. The air force base in our area? I would never want to live out in town. At least not within a short commute! The projects are literally right outside the back gate. Glad you guys are having a good experience with on-post living!
Yes, it gives a security of having something in your own like a property or a house.
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We too decided to live on base after insisting it wasn’t something we’d ever do. It’s so much more convenient for us and it was an easier move than house hunting and finding a home off base.
Awww….I couldn’t help but follow your link from the ‘Friend’ hop when I read your blog title.
I grew up on post until I was 14yrs old. Just reading a few posts and I can’t help but grin and have remember memories as a kid on post, and later when we were off post and I was old enough to drive on base (Randolph AFB was closer than Ft. Sam Houston) and spent as much time as possible there. On post or base is where I feel more ‘at home.’
Can’t wait to dig further into your blog 🙂
April @ OverExtendedApril
We have loved living on post here. We have really lucked out with our housing and everything entailed. I think the ease of it and the commute for Tom was the biggest factor of us staying on post. Glad you are liking it!