Author Topic: living on base?  (Read 3653 times)

lavagirl

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living on base?
« on: October 11, 2015, 02:24:37 PM »
I'm looking for input from anyone who's ever lived on a base. It doesn't seem like rent is any cheaper than surrounding areas but heating/cooling/ water/ trash is included. I'd be interested to hear anyone else's experience living on a base with kids.  Thanks!

davisgang90

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2015, 02:36:54 PM »
If the housing is nice (and many bases have built very nice new housing) it can be worth it.  The camaraderie can be great, but it can also feel like living in a fish bowl.


kimmarg

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2015, 02:51:00 PM »
Pro depends where you are. The place I worked on base was much cheaper and popular with young families.

Kwill

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2015, 03:31:05 PM »
I lived on three bases and in various off-base situations as a kid. This was back in the 80s and early 90s, but maybe some of it holds now. The bases tended to have more playgrounds and activities for kids, and it was a little easier to make friends because everyone hadn't already known each other for years. But probably towns around bases have more transient populations in general. Some of the on-base temporary housing was full of cockroaches and really gross, but the long-term base housing was never like that. I remember playing outside more when we lived on bases vs. in civilian neighborhoods, but it could've been just the particular ages I lived in different places.

goatmom

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2015, 07:25:58 PM »
We loved it.  Free utilities.  Lived close to work.  So many low cost/free activities for the kids.  Free gym membership.  Free swimming pool.  Close to commissary. Kids did play outside more.  They could walk to youth center or pool and I didn't worry.  I would recc it unless you had some great reason not to. 

mendoman

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2015, 10:18:54 PM »
We are living on base overseas. (Italy)  The good is less than 1 mile to work, free utilities (pay for internet) lots of hanging out with neighbors.  You can always borrow (tools, sugar, help) catch a ride if the weather is bad. We spend a lot of time BBQ and drinking wine on the shared decks and visiting with everyone that is social.  The bad is it at times can be a fish bowl as someone else stated.  Wives will exclude someone (I think its called being the mean girls) You also see you enlisted personal doing crazy things around the housing base.  The other eye opener is how people keep there outside space.  Some are clean and neat and others are thrashed, yard not mowed, stuff everywhere and just a mess.  Make me wonder how the inside is.  So bottom line is beats long commute, cheaper living and we have  survived one year.

CheapskateWife

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2015, 08:25:36 AM »
I work for housing at a large installation CONUS so if you want to PM me feel free.

Living in base housing is kind of like living in a fishbowl.  Your spouse's performance could be negatively impacted by the perception that you are not keeping your house up.  There is also a lot of "wearing the husband's rank" that happens in the officer housing areas so be prepared for that nonsense. 

There are also pretty strict limitations on pets (both type and number)  For instance, some installations allow 3 dogs, but mine only allows 2.  So if you come from another base you either are excluded from the on base option or you pick a four legged critter to give up.  But you will have lovely credit as a mustachian so being excluded from base might not be a problem.  Check your puppy breed restrictions too.  Pitts, Rotts, Shepards are mostly prohibited at installations across the board.

Utilities are not included necessarily.  There has been in place a long time; this idea of a resident pay utility program where you are given a certain usage baseline (primarily electricity) and usage over that baseline you are charged, and usage under the baseline results in a rebate.  A frugal mustachian like yourself will do just fine in those circumstances.


goatmom

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2015, 04:59:18 AM »
I most recently lived on base 2 years ago. Every month we got a bill from the housing people for utilities.  They never collected on it.  Not sure what the purpose of it was - in case they ever did decide to bill us?  I forgot -  in the spring and fall they gave us flowers to plant, health clinic on post, vet clinic on post.  We even had a post bus so you could really get by with no car if you wanted to live like a junior enlisted.  Cheap movies at the the theatre on post!!  Bowling alley.  Lots of free classes like yoga, spinning, etc.  Arts and crafts center where you could take classes.

My kids really miss it.  We were really able to keep our expenses low when we  lived on post.

Alex321

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2015, 05:57:25 AM »
We chose not to as a young married couple with no kids because we could get a fancier, two-bedroom apartment off base for less than my married BAH. But for my coworkers of the same rank who already had children, the on-base three or four-bedroom options were a good deal, and I think their wives liked having that community when we would deploy. I know my wife spent a lot of time in their houses on base.

MishMash

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2015, 08:09:07 AM »
It's all going to depend on the post.  When we were in COS, it made more sense for us to live off post, bigger house, cheaper to buy, nicer area but they just built a ton of nice housing on post there.  In DC area, it's pretty much a toss up for lower ranks.  Officer ranks you can totally get a house for under BAH, our townhome is on a 15 year mortgage, is 10 minutes to DHs job, in a top rated school district in the country, and BAH covers mortgage, insurance, HOA (which is trash and snow removal), water, electric and cable/internet.  Utilities are NOT free at every post, it all goes off of useage so if you are in AZ and keep your AC at 60, you're gonna be getting a hefty bill, stay under 'standard' usage and you probably won't have to pay.

We never had great experiences living on post in the US, a lot of irresponsible parenting which drove me NUTS (seriously toddlers wandering in the streets no parent in sight), a lot of constantly having to watch what you do and say and to whom you do it with and say it too.  You do have the comradery of a military community and having access to pools, gym, commissary etc though so only you can really make that decision. 

civil

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Re: living on base?
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2015, 08:43:22 AM »
I lived on base as a civilian fed employee. It's allowed on my base because their housing is overpriced if you are sacrificing BAH for it, so the housing operator can't fill the housing with just military. Civilians got a decent deal when I was there but the rent went up so much that I moved off base again. When I was there civilians could only stay in the lower/middle enlisted married housing. The old housing stock wasn't up to off base standards, but it was fine for me. (Except for the coin laundry prices!)  The distance to work was great, I could walk. There was always someone to watch kids, if you needed that. After school care was free and nearby if you were military.  I was close to the free gyms and jumped through hoops to get access as a fed. Base had more free parks than anywhere else- my state charges entry fees everywhere. But I didn't have commissary privileges and getting off base to a store took a while. I was thankfully not part of the wives social scene. Neighbors were fantastic though, always doing house parties of all types and inviting us on trips to local attractions.

Getting in to base on new years eve, Halloween etc was a pain because the base did DUI checkpoints at the entrance. One year they opened up the hatchback in front of me and an unconscious soldier fell out the back... Took me an extra hour to get home. I also had trouble getting home when base was on some sort of alert and the guards didn't want to let in anyone without an active duty or dependant ID.

The utils were free but the housing operator was always threatening to charge us. The infrastructure was terrible - i called in at least a dozen gas leaks while there, and had to pressure the fire dept to make the housing operator fix things. I was constantly struggling with the housing operator. They tried to charge me an extra $1000 at move out for something that was covered by the pet deposit (replacement of carpet because I had a pet). They are used to pushing people around and docking paychecks and the service members can't do a thing about it, so they didn't understand that I actually had rights and could give them less rent. They once told me that their bank couldn't cash a part rent check!! I suggested they get a better bank and then sue me... they didn't give me that line again. If you have kids be very careful of the water quality. Ours was bad but they put out brochures about how they were in compliance because bases get exceptions. Be careful if you ever have a friend stay with you. The housing operator reserves the right to confiscate a service member's BAH if they are found living in a house on base. Almost everyone had a friend crashing with them between deployments, and sometimes these soldiers got in trouble. They started coming to me because I had one of two civilian leases in the neighborhood and was not afraid of telling the housing people what I thought. This was another reason to move... I bought a house and now offer cheap rooms monthly. No real cash flow, but no stress from the housing operator either.

 Overall I had a good experience and would have stayed if not for the rent increase. If you have energy to fight what the housing operator throws at you, you'll be alright. I second the line about having ALL TYPES of neighbors! Some wonderful and some that make you understand how HOAs came to be.
« Last Edit: October 20, 2015, 09:03:54 AM by traffic girl »

 

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