Living Off Base...?

Question

My husband is in the Marine Corp and was just promoted to an E-2. In the end of May towards June, I will be moving down to Quantico, VA and I would like to know how what kind of housing are we eligible for? Does it depend on age and rank? Cause we are both 19. Is there a possibility we could get on base housing, and how nice are the areas and homes?

Thanks for the help!!!

Answer 1

Housing is based on rank and number of family members. If it is just the two of you, you should get a 2 bedroom house. You'd have to have 2 kids to get a 3-bedroom house. The wait list generally gets longer as your number of bedrooms goes up.

Military housing isn't too bad, but it isn't wonderful either. It is generally safe to live on-base, because of the gates and military police. However, where we live the lower-enlisted housing areas are generally known as pretty ghetto. A female soldier was raped in her home not long ago, and I've heard rumors of drive-by shootings. Ask some of the other families who live on-base what they think of it, because it varies from place to place.

You could get on base housing, but you will probably have to wait a long time. It could be up to a year or more. In the meantime, you'll have to have somewhere to live, so you might want to just find someplace you like off-base and stay there. The military will pay you basic allowance for housing (BAH) based on his rank, duty zip code, and the fact that he has dependants. It is very possible to find something affordable off-base, and it can sometimes be nicer than what you would get on-base.

Also, it sounds like your husband is already at Quantico. If he is, he can go ahead and get on the waiting list. That way you are closer to having housing when you do get down there, or he could even possibly accept a house before you do, if the wait isn't too long.

Answer 2

age has nothing to do with it, if you are an E2, and no kids then you will probably get a two bedroom if they have them or an apartment. You can usually look up the houses only since most of the bases are now privatized which means that the military pays you and you get that money taken out by a third party. If he is already stationed there he needs to get on the housing list, because the wait can be forever, because you might not have kids it will be easier, it is families with kids that have more problems because while there is more housing with more rooms there are also more families with kids if that makes sense, If you haven't yet PCSed there, look up the area, your sponsor should be helping you with this, look up the housing, and give them a call and tell them what is going on. I know in Hawaii you can "get" on the list before you move out, because this is a new station for you you will have priority over people moving in from off base and people needed a bigger/smaller house. Hope that helps.

Answer 3

It depends on rank, most of all, it does not factor in age. The housing you will be eligible for, is housing available to enlisted families only. Depending on everything, it may be a while before actually getting a house. If your husband has not added you two, to the housing list, sometimes there is a waiting period. Once you are next in line, for a house, you have the choice to choose a house. Now before you get all happy and start doing a dance. Here's the trick when choosing a house.

Lets say, housing contacts you on an opening, @ AAA Anchors St. Once going to the house and looking through the entire house and you don't like it. You contact housing and say I don't like the house at AAA Anchors St. So you wait for another opening and when that happens you are offered BBB Bakers Dr. Once it's something that you don't want, but you like the first house given. You will not be allowed to take the house @ AAA Anchors St.

Once you have passed a house offer, you are not allowed to go back to it. The many times that my husband and I have been offered a house, the first time, we took it. It has always worked out well for us. I'm not telling you that you should take the first house offered. Just beware there are guidelines on getting a house. For example, if you get to your third house offer and you don't like it. You are all out of house offers after that and will have to find other options for a house.

Oh yeah, one more thing, since there is only the both of you. You will be offered a house with two rooms. If it was you two and a baby, then you'd be offered a house with three rooms. A room for every one person.

To further prepare yourself for the move, you should look up the information for that specific base. You can further see the many different things available on base. If you want to start looking for a job, if you want to work, there's also a link on that page to help you get started. Well best of luck with the move, it's not always an easy one at first.

Answer 4

You can get on base housing, at any rank or age, as long as you are married. There is always a wait list though. Took us 2 years to get on base housing, and then we only got housing b/c he was leaving for Iraq and I was high risk medical needs. There is always a possibilty of something being open for incoming soldiers/marines and their spouses, but if I were you, I would be looking for housing off base, or you will be stuck living in a hotel until they find you housing or you get into an apartment.

Answer 5

Housing and the type of housing is based on pay grade and its availablility plus how many people are in the family. There may or may not be a waiting list to move in as well. Your husband will need to go to the base housing office and check in. They will then give you the options based on the above information. Most housing is nice, but it depends on the location as well.

Answer 6

Rank and # of dependents is what determines what size house you qualify for. The married couple qualifies for a room and then there are rules on how kids can share rooms until they qualify for their own. A lot depends on what housing is open and how that base is interpreting the rules. You can't be assigned to anything lower than what you qualify for unless you sign off on it but you can be given something bigger if that's what's open.

Quanitco's base website has a section on housing: http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/display.aspx?Section=Housing. Look in there to see pics of the actual houses, BAH rate (Basic Allowance for Housing), general prices for the community...

It looks like the wait times are really long as they're in the middle of remodeling. You might try these and other apartment search sites to find something in the area:

http://www.apartmentguide.com/

http://www.apartments.com/

http://www.move.com/?poe=move

https://www.rent.com/account/login/?next_url=%2Faccount%2F

http://www.apartmentratings.com/ (ratings from people who lived in the apartments)

Before you finalize any decision to live off base you want to check with the housing office to see if there are any warnings or blacklisted complexes. They may even have other listings of rentals in the area and can be helpful in finding a place.

Another option is to check Yahoo Groups, MySpace groups or anyplace else you use for networking to see if they have a group for Quanitco military spouses. Sometimes it helps to have thier view on how things really work at that specific base and it helps to "know" people in the area before you get there.

Best of luck and I hope you enjoy VA!

Answer 7

Age doesn't matter. What matters is rank and time in service.

My husband's in the Army, and we're here at Ft. Gordon. There is often a long wait to get on-base housing, so a lot of people opt to live off base. Look online and find what the housing allottment is for that area. Then, you'll know how much you're entitled to if you live off base. Here in GA, we get $800ish for off-base housing, and my apartment (with utilities) only costs about $650. So we make extra money for living off post.

I recommend living off base. It saves the wait and it's often better on your paycheck. I don't know that area, however, so maybe somebody else can help you more than I can. =D

Good luck!

Answer 8

Not sure how the base housing is there, but here at FT Hood in Texas, sometimes the wait for base housing is a year! You would be better off looking for an apartment off base and pay the rent with BAH!

Answer 9

housing is based on paygrade and BR entitlement. if it is just the two of you, you will only qualify for a 2 BR unit, most likely an apartment. How long the waiting list will depend on the availability of thise size units at the base. I have seen waiting lists be as long as 2 years .

Answer 10

First off, I commend your husband and you as his wife for serving his country.

I don't know about Quanitco but I grew up in base housing (enlisted) on Camp Pendleton. Housing isn't the greatest but not bad.