It sounds shallow and terrible, but one of the only perks of deployment is the extra pay. We’re going to use the extra money we’ve saved to buy a house, we think. As I mentioned on Saturday, we put in an offer for a house. So how exactly did we find a house in Colorado while I’m in Virginia and Mac is in Afghanistan?
1. Talk to people. Being an Army wife blogger, I’ve “met” fellow milspos who live or have lived at dozens of military bases. Once Mac got his RFO, I contacted a few of them for housing advice. Mac also emailed one of his career course classmates who is at Carson. They helped us get an idea of where we wanted to look.
2. Use the internet! Zillow and Trulia are two great real estate websites that aren’t affiliated with specific agents. Zillow is our fave, and it allowed us to decide on what we wanted size-wise and on a budget.
3. Contact a Realtor. Once you have an idea of what you want or where you want, reach out to a professional. They can tell you some more information about the market or about a house you’ve picked out (like the one we wanted that already had 3 offers). As a buyer, you are not responsible for paying your real estate agent. If a Realtor asks you to pay them, find another one.
4. Plan a trip out there. If you’re serious about buying a house, you’ll most likely need to see the house before you buy it. This can be challenging based on where you live and where you’re going (like Fort Irwin which is near nothing). You might be able to fly free using Space A, and be sure to look for military discounts at hotels and car rental companies! I saved around $20 a night at my hotel with my military discount.
Have any of y’all moved or bought a house during deployment? What would you add?
Check back tomorrow for some more tips about the actual house-buying process!
I don’t think thats sounds shallow, you should get something out of deployment 🙂
Sarah
Midwest Darling
It doesn’t sound shallow at all! I’m excited for you guys to own a home, it’s a great experience! 🙂
Yep! That’s pretty much the biggest perk. We bought our house before deployment, but John made me refinance while he was gone, and signing all those papers was AWFUL! I had to sign for both of us, and his signature included some sentence-long thing about POA. I missed the Sat post, but I’ll go read! And I’ll be stalking. We REALLY want a house in CO.
It’s not shallow. I think a majority of us think that way. You might as well get something out of a crappy deal.
Good luck!
I had to do the signing on my own (with a power of attorney), but we were able to do the looking together before he left. I definitely agree that word of mouth is great help, especially amongst military spouse friends!