Housing Preview

This last week was Spring Break. On Wednesday, I took the kids and drove up to Washington DC to meet Kirk and look at some housing. I don't know how many of you have used a GPS system to help navigate your way, but Kirk let me use his. I was fine with it until I got on the beltway around DC. Let's just say that the GPS lady (computer) was telling me the directions and we got so lost in downtown DC during rush hour. The GPS would say "make a legal u-turn" and I would respond in an unkind tone "right, this is rush hour downtown". It was not pretty. We finally made it to where Kirk lives and I was very glad to turn the GPS and the driving over to Kirk for the rest of the trip.

Well, like I said, we went to check out some of the military housing in the area. Our first stop was at Ft. Meade, MD. It is about half way between DC and Baltimore. They told us that there was housing for just E9 and gave us a map to go and do a drive-bye. We were very surprised at what we saw. The first 3 pictures are of one style of E-9 housing and the next two are of another style. We're not sure which style we'll get to live in, but I won't complain about either one.

The High School, Middle & 2 elementary schools are located on base. Each neighborhood has a community center. The one for this housing is nearby and has a large pool, media room, fitness room, etc. They also have youth centers that have a variety of programs for the kids.

I decided that I could live here and never have to leave the base and deal with that traffic. Kirk will have to, but no matter where we live, that will be the case.

Our next stop was Ft. Belvoir, VA. It is south of DC. The houses below are a sample of some of the E-9 housing . This village opened this month and people who already live on post have first offer to move into this housing. If there are any units left after the transition, it will open up to new residents. There are only 22 homes and I doubt there will be many left over.

Our last stop was at Andrews Air Force Base. They had housing for E7-9 in certain areas and they gave us a map to go and do the drive-bye. I asked the housing agent what the average square footage was for these homes and she said "The larger ones are 1233 sq. ft. and the smaller style is just over 1200 sq. ft. She acted as if they were large. They were all 4 bedroom, but the ones that are pictured above are 1400-1600 sq. ft. on ONE level. A bit of a difference.

We will be putting our application in for Ft. Meade housing ASAP. The current wait is 3-6 months. I think it is worth the wait even if we have to rent for a couple of months up there.