Military Families
lyssa8488
member
I just don't understand the Army sometimes...
lyssa8488
member
So my husband has to report to Ft. Bliss during the second week of January; we are at Ft. Hood right now (us and our three pets). We were told that housing would be taken care of already so when our moving truck got there we would have a place to live. We will be moving in less than three weeks, and the Army now tells us that there is a 6-9 month wait for base housing, so we have no place to live. I have no idea what we are going to do with our pets when we get there, and I'm assuming that we will just have to rush around and try to find a place to live. I'm trying not to be stressed out about this, but I thought they would plan this better.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: I just don't understand the Army sometimes...
The Dogs and Us
Welcome to the Army! LOL. I don't think I've ever heard of an Army base that didn't have a wait list for housing at least a month or two long.
First, try and calm down and stop stressing about it. PCS'ing is usually one crazy crazy clusterfvck, but things always work out. Call around now and find boarding places for the dogs for a week or two, or you can do what we did and find a pet friendly hotel. We were actually in a hotel here for about a week before we found and were able to move into a house off base. Two adults, two 4 month old babies, and two dogs (one being an 80 pound lab)... all in one room at the Motel 6. Fun! Ok not really but we all survived. Just FYI: I would only keep them in a hotel with you if they're crate trained and don't have separation anxiety, since you will have to leave them locked in crates when you go house hunting or whatever you need to do.
Also, start researching rental houses online now. You may find areas off base that you would rather live in anyway, and depending on your BAH you may be able to save a little money doing that. Call around to companies and explain that you're PCS'ing, you should arrive around X date, and what do they recommend you doing to find a house ASAP.
I know it seems stressful now, but take things one day at a time, and you'll find that it's not as big of a deal as it seems. Good luck!
We have applied to lived on post three different places, with three different wait list experiences. The first, when we moved to Fort Irwin, was the most stressful.
At Irwin, you can't get on the wait list until the service member has signed in. After DH signed in, we were told it would be about six months. We had to go find a place to live in the interim. While our ultimate experience at Irwin was good (and I would go back without too many complaints), living in Barstow sucked. But, spot on, six months later, we moved into our house on post.
our move to Fort Lee was, by far, the easiest. We were able to apply for housing on post before we moved. Heck, we had our new address about six weeks ahead of our move! Granted, the house was OLD and not fabulous. . . But for the seven months we were there, it was fine. I have since learned that they have torn down those houses to make room for new, nice homes, so, the wait at Lee is much longer.
This past Spring, we moved to Northern Virginia. We applied to live on post at Fort Belvoir. My DH had a 14 month credit due to deployment. We were quoted a six to nine month wait for a house. Given that DH's assignment is two years, we decided to find something off post. Less than three weeks later, DH received a call from the housing office offering us a home. We asked to be put at the bottom of the list. They have since called again, offering us another house.
So, as you can see, things vary widely. It sucks that you were told that housing would not be a problem. . . But, as you will learn, take what you are told with a grain of salt, especially if it seems a bit too good to be true. Sometimes it is true, but, more often than not things don't work out quite so smoothly. Good luck finding a place. I used AHRN.com to find our current townhouse. Hopefully you can find something before heading out there. Having three dogs can make finding housing more challenging. Can you get documentation from your vet that they are all up to date on shots. And, if you have taken them for training, proof of class completion may help too.
If you are looking for a house instead of an apartment, check out www.militarybyowner.com. Not sure how much it is used by people at Ft Bliss, but we have used the site for house hunting at Ft Hood and now for Ft Myer with success.
OMG mama, I hear you on this. I have used the website: militarybyowner.com for housing both in CO and currently in AL. It's reliable and usually the homeowners offer housing cheaper on this website for military: GL!
I'd also like to recommend https://www.ahrn.com/
We used it to find our current house. It's a DOD sponsored website and each installation's housing office has to inspect and approve every listing.