Military Housing - Painting?

[sealwife256]

My husband and I are thinking about moving into military housing in San Diego when he gets back from the sand box, but I'm not sure what to think... does anyone have preferences in locations in San Diego? Also, do you know if you can paint or not, I'm thinking you can't but I know I would love to!

THANKS!

[joshdupre]

I know nothing about the San Diego area however as far as painting goes while I lived in base housing in Gulfport Mississippi we were allowed to paint. The stipulation was that the walls had to be back white when we left. Now our particular house was going to be repainted anyways so they only needed me to get white primer on the two rooms that I painted for my kids. Hope that helps.

[redwifey13]

I am so glad you asked this question! I just emailed you and asked you what you thought about Military Housing..lol..I am wondering what it is like also. My husband is arguing that it would be like living on a base and he wouldn't like to live where he works..what does everyone think?

[joshdupre]

Ok when I was in housing for muster in the morning I just walked right down the street and there I was. So obviously with gas prices the way they are it helps out a lot with that. Another thing is not having a commute to and from work time wise and you are able to go home for lunch everyday. I also would go to the house when nothing would be going on and if they needed me or something came up I was right there, I would just stay in my uniform. The other thought is how much would it cost to live out in town. For example here I live out in town in WA and my rent is 1200 with 230 for gas 70 electric and my bah is only 980, so I am coming out of pocket quite a bit. These are all things to consider, not all bad things. Sometimes it did suck to be so close to work but there is a lot of upsides another upside is my kids had tons of other kids to play with all the time and parks they could go to on there own because they were right there by the house. Hope that info helps.

Josh

[frogwife]

Whether you can paint or not will depend upon your particular housing situation. One, if you live under housing that's still run my the military, you may have more leeway,but only if the housing is older. They pretty much nix painting in brand new housing.But if you do you will have to paint over it when you leave.

I think the military is turning over most if not all their housing to private contractors, so what used to apply no longer will, and you will be under whatever contract you sign with a civilian contractor when it comes to painting and such.

Basically, it depends on where you are and what housing your looking at. Hope that helps.

[sealwife256]

Thanks for all your input and help! Much Appreciated!

[1NVYMOM]

Thought I'd add my two cents here. My experience with military housing was years ago..........remember, I'm a mom of a SEAL.......but I can combine it with my brother's experience with his family.

Downside........it is military housing/sometimes old/sometimes you need a break from military things.

Upside.........when you need support there is someone nearby who knows what it is like

for kids - there are lots of other kids around and they know what it is like (My husband is in law enforcement and my kids weren't always able to talk to their friends about the kinds of things their dad did at work)

it is (or at lease was) a relatively safe and protected environment for kids.....military watches out for their own.

we used to have access to less expensive entertainment....ie pools, movies, gym for basketball, holiday parties for kids etc. (I'm not sure if that is still the case though.)

Anyway, those are some other things to think about.

[sealwife256]

I have another question... not sure if aynone will know the answer. I was offered housing but had to defer because we are not ready to move in until the fall. I guess you get to defer once, and since I want to move in during September I chose to defer until August. (Since residents give a 30 day notice, military housing will call me in August if they have something for me in September if I happen to be on the list at the right time...). Well I heard that a lot of people are deferring until September (must be a good time to move), so I changed my deferrment from August to July (Since I'm still pretty far down the list). Here's the thing... if we are offered something in July for August is there a way I can sign the lease and pay for August but let the house sit and not move until September... I mean as long as they are paid I don't see why not. Any opinions or thoughts? Thanks!

[oldswabbie]

Pets? My Daughter and her Husband have "Baby", a cat we gave them. They got base housing and were told that they would be "Black Lighted" when they left and if any urine was found his pay would be docked for new carpet.

DOH!

OldSwabbie

[autumn]

I have another question... not sure if aynone will know the answer. I was offered housing but had to defer because we are not ready to move in until the fall. I guess you get to defer once, and since I want to move in during September I chose to defer until August. (Since residents give a 30 day notice, military housing will call me in August if they have something for me in September if I happen to be on the list at the right time...). Well I heard that a lot of people are deferring until September (must be a good time to move), so I changed my deferrment from August to July (Since I'm still pretty far down the list). Here's the thing... if we are offered something in July for August is there a way I can sign the lease and pay for August but let the house sit and not move until September... I mean as long as they are paid I don't see why not. Any opinions or thoughts? Thanks!


eek. Do you really want to live in military housing? Im not saying they are bad or anything, but they sure do eat up your BAH. We had an apartment while a friend of ours lived in the military housing on Coronado, and while we were able to pocket about $700 per month after paying rent, their entire BAH went straight to pay for their housing. Dont get me wrong, the housing was good (run down, but good) but I didnt think it was worth paying out $1500+ of our BAH for that place. We just found that financially it was better to live off base. Just my opinion.

[sealwife256]

eek. Do you really want to live in military housing? Im not saying they are bad or anything, but they sure do eat up your BAH. We had an apartment while a friend of ours lived in the military housing on Coronado, and while we were able to pocket about $700 per month after paying rent, their entire BAH went straight to pay for their housing. Dont get me wrong, the housing was good (run down, but good) but I didnt think it was worth paying out $1500+ of our BAH for that place. We just found that financially it was better to live off base. Just my opinion.

Here's my situation. My husband has lived in some "not so nice" apartments over the years, and now that he works his butt off every day and is married with a child he wants to live in a decent place. With that said, there are no apartments that are half way decent that allow us to pocket $700 after rent. We are looking for 2 bedrooms/Air conditioning/garage/washer and dryer in unit... with that said, military housing is our best option. There is only one semi-nice apartment complex kind of close to Coronodao that I've found with all these options, and with utilities included it comes out to be around the same price. I would rather be in military housing just to have other wives around in the same boat as me. If we didn't have our daughter a more run down place would be an option until we bought a house, but she changes everything. Have you ever had/or has anyone else had a bad experience with military housing in San Diego? If so please do tell, because that could change my mind! Thanks for the input :)

[Courtenay]

Do you still have my DILs info? Talk to her. They live in military housing in Pt. Loma and absolutely adore it. It is on the old NTC base. Very beautiful. That housing is like high-end condos. Seriously. It is the best choice they ever made. They did the whole defer thing as well. He was deployed and she went up to Northern Cali with her parents. It worked out. Definitely get in touch with her.\

Here's the area...Liberty Station. Try living this nicely off-base for the money!
http://www.pointlomarealestateonline.com/skin_files/liberty_walking_tour.jpg

[autumn]

Here's my situation. My husband has lived in some "not so nice" apartments over the years, and now that he works his butt off every day and is married with a child he wants to live in a decent place. With that said, there are no apartments that are half way decent that allow us to pocket $700 after rent. We are looking for 2 bedrooms/Air conditioning/garage/washer and dryer in unit... with that said, military housing is our best option. There is only one semi-nice apartment complex kind of close to Coronodao that I've found with all these options, and with utilities included it comes out to be around the same price. I would rather be in military housing just to have other wives around in the same boat as me. If we didn't have our daughter a more run down place would be an option until we bought a house, but she changes everything. Have you ever had/or has anyone else had a bad experience with military housing in San Diego? If so please do tell, because that could change my mind! Thanks for the input :)

I completely understand your point! We did not have kids until after we left Coronado, so although it wasnt totally run down, it was not "nice" and did not have all of the amenities. We wanted to live in the military housing there but there was a 2 yr wait list.
We were, and still are, friends with a couple who lived in military housing and as far as I know, they had no problems with living there. The neighborhood was nice and the houses werent run down hardly at all. The homes had a back patio and had a big back yard that you shared with other units. There were Volleyball nets and lots of neighborhood kids running around. It wasnt bad at all and I never heard any complaints.

By the way..they lived in the housing on Coronado right down from base and the Hotel Del.

[sealwife256]

I completely understand your point! We did not have kids until after we left Coronado, so although it wasnt totally run down, it was not "nice" and did not have all of the amenities. We wanted to live in the military housing there but there was a 2 yr wait list.
We were, and still are, friends with a couple who lived in military housing and as far as I know, they had no problems with living there. The neighborhood was nice and the houses werent run down hardly at all. The homes had a back patio and had a big back yard that you shared with other units. There were Volleyball nets and lots of neighborhood kids running around. It wasnt bad at all and I never heard any complaints.

By the way..they lived in the housing on Coronado right down from base and the Hotel Del.

I know, base housing in Coronado is nice because it's so close and you can't beat the location of Coronado. I really did some research and found out that the housing in Coronado is smaller (than the place that we're on the waiting list for) and the wait list for the closer housing that you're talking about is crazy long. I know whatever is suppose to happen will, I just hope all the work I did picking a place and getting on the list will be worth it (which was a pain, you can only be on one housing list at a time).... BY THE WAY for any wives out there trying to get on military housing with your man gone you have to have a General Power of Attorney AND a Special Power of Attorney if he's in the Navy, it's the ONLY branch that requires both... so we'll see, I have an apartment complex picked out already as a back up. I packed up and put everything into storage 2 weeks after he left with a 7 month old, and will have to move it back in again into our new place before he gets back with a 13 month old... should be fun! :)

[bigv123]

I wanted to chime in and give you a perspective that you may not have seen...your child. My father was a career officer and so I grew up on military bases all over the US. Sometimes we lived on base...some duty stations we didn't. My experience of living on base was excellent and I absolutely loved it. I found it much more appealing than living off base. I had more in common with the other kids and was able to build friendships easier. I also found that the kids on base had much better behavior and so we didn't get in nearly as much trouble...we just didn't go looking for it in the first place. When we lived off base, well, that was thrown on its ear.

My experience may not be typical, or maybe it is. But, if I was a parent and the environment in which I raised my child was important (as it should be), I would highly recommend base housing.

V

[sealwife256]

I wanted to chime in and give you a perspective that you may not have seen...your child. My father was a career officer and so I grew up on military bases all over the US. Sometimes we lived on base...some duty stations we didn't. My experience of living on base was excellent and I absolutely loved it. I found it much more appealing than living off base. I had more in common with the other kids and was able to build friendships easier. I also found that the kids on base had much better behavior and so we didn't get in nearly as much trouble...we just didn't go looking for it in the first place. When we lived off base, well, that was thrown on its ear.

My experience may not be typical, or maybe it is. But, if I was a parent and the environment in which I raised my child was important (as it should be), I would highly recommend base housing.

V

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate any comments that people have about this. You are right, the enviroment I raise my child is very important to me and I want to control it as much as I can... :) I'm sure many of you parents with older chilren think that's funny... I know my mom would.

[autumn]

BY THE WAY for any wives out there trying to get on military housing with your man gone you have to have a General Power of Attorney AND a Special Power of Attorney if he's in the Navy, it's the ONLY branch that requires both... :)

That is good to know... seriously! Thanks for informing me of that.


I have an apartment complex picked out already as a back up. I packed up and put everything into storage 2 weeks after he left with a 7 month old, and will have to move it back in again into our new place before he gets back with a 13 month old... should be fun! :)

You poor thing! :) Surely you can convince some guy friends to help out. Funny thing... I offer up beer and dinner and my husband's friends come help every time! Have you met anyone in SD yet? Im guessing you guys don't live in Cali...

[sealwife256]

You poor thing! :) Surely you can convince some guy friends to help out. Funny thing... I offer up beer and dinner and my husband's friends come help every time! Have you met anyone in SD yet? Im guessing you guys don't live in Cali...

I thankfully have cousins of my husband that live in the LA area that said that when the time comes to give them a call and they will come down and help. If they're busy I think I'm going to hire people, anyone have any recommendations for a moving company in the SD area? Thanks!

[sealwife256]

I just found out that we were offered housing, I'm excited because I was worried we wouldn't get the area we wanted before my hubby got home! Good news! :)

[autumn]

YAY!!! Thats awesome! I'm happy for you! Man, I bet thats a load off of your mind.