Living in Military Family Housing or Living Off-Base (Away from predatory mortgage brokers)

The Balance Careers ^ | August 08, 2018 | BY ROD POWERS

[Hostage]

Yep, and when compared to military families before Bush 41, the situation has gotten much worse.

The idea is to make military service a prideful thing, not a get rich scheme which it will never be, but a living that is not disturbed by civilian credit and loan sharks.

Now how do you do that without blowing a hole in the federal budget?

[2CAVTrooper]

“The point is that DOD and VA can push for budgeting into bringing back family housing and on-base schools for military children”

They can push that all they want, but the democrats will never allow it.

Wasn’t senator dianne frankenswine one of the ones who forced DOD to spin off on base housing to be operated by a third party namely a company affiliated with her husband?

[Hostage]

All the more reason for POTUS to get involved.

[Hostage]

Bless you and your family.

Homes nowadays can be put up so quickly and affordable, that it would be a great experience to live on base and not pay for housing, nor heat, nor water, nor electricity. And all of that is feasible.

The Army Corps of Engineers can work wonders in very short times. And today, there are modular homes that are very. very pleasant to live in, and affordable for DOD to purchase.

There is really no reason to push service members off-base if they have nice housing and base schools that exceed all public schools. I can see waiting lines at recruitment offices to get into that sort of deal.

The only reason to buy housing off-base is to build equity. But that should come after a service member has committed to making the military a career.

[Retvet]

Its not free. If you live off base you get s housing allowance. If you live on base you do not.

[rlmorel]

I should specify this was many years ago. Now, I am sure it is much different with the specifics, but as they say, you either live in base housing (hard to get) or get money in your paycheck and find a place off-base.

My dad did both, but being an officer, he had more financial flexibility, but...with six kids to support and a stay at home mom, that was a challenge for him.

Before and after we went overseas, he worked five nights a week at a large department store chain near Washington DC (GEM) as a second job to make ends meet. He would get up at 5:00 AM to work his daytime Navy job, and go straight to work at the department store after, finally getting home at 10:30 PM.

God bless that hardworking man. He wasn’t a demonstrative father, but my mother would say later that he loved us all very much, and he showed it as he could by working that hard to support us.

I can’t imagine how enlisted families can make ends meet living off base...but they must, because they do.

[SakoL61R]

Please define what you mean by a “predatory” mortgage broker?

Do you believe the VA should make it harder for veterans to get loans, i.e., require more stringent rules for debt-to-income ratios, higher credit scores to qualify or require more “residual income”, etc.?

Yes, I am a mortgage loan originator at a brokerage and also a Veteran. My business is about 40% VA. I know VA 26-7 like the back of my hand and get nothing but compliments from all of my clients. I take care of them and work on their behalf all the way to closing and afterwards.

From my experience, I would like to see the VA require counseling for first-time Veteran homebuyers. Something like Framework (Home Ready) or CreditSmart (Home Possible). Along this line, many Veterans who have or have had VA loans are not that knowledgeable about the benefits, requirements, and guidelines.

I will also add that there are people in my business who don’t care and also lack the knowledge to take care of Veterans before, during, and after the home buying process. This includes realtors.

[morphing libertarian]

I live in Oceanside CA and my wife and I are RE Bokers. We are next to Camp Pendalton and get some spillage form the oval base in CAL, what the marines call “transportation.” We also have thousands of military retirees in north SD.

My wife and I help 1-2 marines aye buy homes. We have an excellent lender and some marines chose the one on base.

IF you are predatory lender in this area you won’t be in business every long. Word spreads fast. 14 years helping military buy homes in SD.

[morphing libertarian]

FROM THE NAVAL BASE

[Hostage]

The problem with housing allowances is they don't keep up with local pricing or rents. they keep up but are adjusted maybe once a year whereas rents and home prices can ratchet up all during the year. Also the same for utilities.

You're talking about the here and now but the point is that military families did have better in previous generations and there is no reason why military families today can't have it better if the resources are developed on-base.

And really, there should be no 3rd party collecting rents for on-base housing. It should be free for service families with free utilities. Today there are modular homes that can be put up in less than a month and those homes are very pleasant to live in.

The thing to keep in mind is there is this system of allowances and subsidies that tries to help service members stay afloat when living in the civilian sector. But it's an overly complex system that can be simplified greatly and save both DOD and service members money.

What exists today is rather awful and does nothing for conserving budgets, helping military families or increasing morale.

Above is base price $63,000, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, less than a week to put up, site work takes about a week to 2 weeks.

I can bet you that the allowances and subsidies going out today from DOD would buy homes for housing military families like the above and there would be no debt and lots of savings.

And the schools on-base used to be higher rated than public schools. Everywhere a service member would be transferred, their kids could look forward to the same standards on-base that they had before and often they would see old friends that had been transferred also, so it became a closed society that gave the kids a sense of belonging and identity.

The only reason to purchase a home or farm off-base is to build equity or have a place for retirement.

[Hostage]

Good business for you. Military careerists with good rank and time in grade should be able to buy a home and live a decent stable like without having to go too far into debt.

Oceanside has always been at the lower end in terms of pricing. Head north to the Bay area and the prices are off the charts in general.

The idea here is to give the younger military families an option to be able to save by living in decent quarters on base.

See #50 above.

[Hostage]

Predatory takes many forms, balloon loans, pick-a-payment loans, overestimating appraisals, initial teaser rates, negative amortization, and on and on.

The predatory loan shark has an array of tools in which to entice or persuade a distressed family to go further into debt than they should.

Some predatory loans have been outlawed. Others are candidates for being made illegal. Basically, they suck people in.

See the example in #4 above:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3700661/posts?page=4#4

[Hostage]

God bless your father. Wish there had been an effort to make his home life a little easier.

[af_vet_1981]

15k in medical benefits for an E-3 with 2 years seems as expensive as family (spouse and children) medical coverage. Most E-3s should not typically have a spouse and children while at that rank. I don’t recall a single case like that, yet there are exceptions.

[rlmorel]

My dad was a good man...I hero worshipped him as a kid, and still do. I could do a lot worse for a subject to hero-worship!

I read discussions like these, and it makes me realize how difficult family life is for many in our military. My dad made the conscious choice to limit his advancement opportunities in order to spend time with his family, foregoing command at sea which he was teed up for after his tour as an XO on a destroyer, but after that tour he decided he wanted to spend time with us instead of going to sea.

I was unmarried during my tour, and only did four years.

But I think I have a valid window (even if it is narrow) on the various stresses that our military personnel have to manage. It just can’t be easy.

[CodeToad]

Current average civilian medical coverage for just the spouse is $1350 per month.

[major_gaff]

My Gunny said very much the same thing.

[af_vet_1981]

$1350 per month for a 20 something year old spouse of an E-3?

That makes no sense. A typical family plan costs 17-18k.

For one person it is 6-7K, depending on Silver or Gold level.

$1350 per month for one person is an extremely expensive policy for a young spouse. It may make sense for a person just shy of Medicare eligibilty (62-65).

http://www.moaa.org/Content/Publications-and-Media/MOAA-Blog/One-Chart-Shows-How-Military-Health-Care-Costs-Compare-to-Civilians--Fees.aspx

[morphing libertarian]

from santa barbara to Mexico Oceanside, San Ysidro and Chula Vista are the lowest Bets wishes.