The Cost of a Home
...in the Military
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
As a military wife, I've been pretty content living in our clean, modern, convenient apartment. We've got a great view of the sky, framed by foliage on one side, and the other side overlooks a tennis court, the forest, a winding road, and a few gorgeous homes (gorgeous on the inside anyway; the outside of every single structure here is as drab as can be for confomity's sake). Our apartment has great water pressure. We've got a spacious kitchen, while many German kitchens are small. It's a five minute drive to work for John. One of the best things is that we're living in a mini-American economy, in the middle of Germany. It's part of my hubsand's benefits that many people turn their ungrateful noses up at. Housing.
According to the annual statement we receive, this third story apartment is worth $500 a month including utilites (that's a great price considering that such a thing in the civilian sector would cost a whole lot more), so it's nice not to have to pay rent or a mortgage every month for our domicile... but the catch is that our paychecks are a *whole lot * smaller than most people could ever afford to live on, if they had to pay for a place to live.
So I guess it all balances out. More than a couple of times John has toyed with the idea of moving out onto the Germany economy, the main reason for him being that the government would foot that cost, which means that if we chose a modest home that cost less than our housing allowance, we could pocket the remainder of the money that's not used for rent & utilities. Well, that would be interesting, notwithstanding the tradeoffs, which are lower water pressure (melikes vigorous showers), dealing with landlords, a longer drive to work for John, not to mention our skittishness about mingling with people whose language we don't speak.
We've got just 10 or 11 months left here, so we'll stay put in our government housing which, contrary to many people's snooty opinions, is decent. But we'll stay mindful of the more proactive alternatives. When / if we feel like playing the real estate game some day, then all those military perqs will be looking mouth-wateringly good. Plus, John & I could combine our VA Home Loan Guarantees to qualify for a cozy home. (I think that's how it works...I don't completely remember.)
According to the annual statement we receive, this third story apartment is worth $500 a month including utilites (that's a great price considering that such a thing in the civilian sector would cost a whole lot more), so it's nice not to have to pay rent or a mortgage every month for our domicile... but the catch is that our paychecks are a *whole lot * smaller than most people could ever afford to live on, if they had to pay for a place to live.
So I guess it all balances out. More than a couple of times John has toyed with the idea of moving out onto the Germany economy, the main reason for him being that the government would foot that cost, which means that if we chose a modest home that cost less than our housing allowance, we could pocket the remainder of the money that's not used for rent & utilities. Well, that would be interesting, notwithstanding the tradeoffs, which are lower water pressure (melikes vigorous showers), dealing with landlords, a longer drive to work for John, not to mention our skittishness about mingling with people whose language we don't speak.
We've got just 10 or 11 months left here, so we'll stay put in our government housing which, contrary to many people's snooty opinions, is decent. But we'll stay mindful of the more proactive alternatives. When / if we feel like playing the real estate game some day, then all those military perqs will be looking mouth-wateringly good. Plus, John & I could combine our VA Home Loan Guarantees to qualify for a cozy home. (I think that's how it works...I don't completely remember.)