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Permalink Reply by Emily-aaronsgirl11 on October 13, 2014 at 9:36pm

Each base has a housing office that can advise you on places to stay away from because of previous bad experiences from military members. And they can also give you a list of places that are military friendly in the area. 

There's also various Facebook groups for these areas, and it can be very valuable to ask about neighborhoods and recommended places to stay on those pages. 

What I look for in a place to live: 

1. Affordability. Make sure you don't rent some place that you cannot continue to afford. Keep in mind many places require at least first and last month's rent, while some require first and last month's rent in addition to a deposit. Make sure you budget in any additional utility costs such as water, gas, electric, and cable/internet if you want that.

2. Location - a.) Neighborhood. b.) Distance from base 

Location is incredibly important, especially when your husband will be going to sea frequently and you'll be home alone more often than he'll be home with you. You need to make sure that you feel safe sleeping at night, walking down the street, and staying home alone. If you don't feel safe where you live, it's going to be a miserable experience for you. And also distance from base... more of travel distance than mileage distance if that makes sense. You don't want your husband to have a two hour commute home after a long day at work. Some commands even have restrictions on how far you can live from base... my cousin (once married to a Marine) was forced to move because their home was too far from base according to his command. Even though he had never been late to work, because he lived over 60 miles from base (it was like 65) they were forced to move closer. I'm not sure every command has this, but it's something you should keep in mind regardless.. you don't want your husband's commute to be too miserable. Those areas also have multiple naval bases, so keep that in mind. 

3. Pet policy - Important for us because our cats are our babies. Some places won't accept big dogs, others won't accept any pets at all. Keep this in mind even if you don't currently have pets but think you might want one in the future. Some places have very high pet deposits while others are more reasonable. 

4. Management, especially with apartment complexes. Ask around, find reviews of a place before you sign a lease. Of course, you should take any review with a grain of salt because everyone has bad days, but if you see consistently awful reviews of a place's management, you may want to stay away. It's never fun to have to fight with management to get what you're entitled to in your lease. And it's never fun to have a broken microwave the entire time you live somewhere because management refuses to fix it. You can live in the nicest apartment around, but if your management is lazy and refuses to do what they're supposed to, it can still be a nightmare of a place to live. 

5. Make sure it has the military clause in it. If he gets last minute orders or orders in general, you'll want to be able to get out of the lease without extreme penalty. Apparently there's a law that states that this isn't required in order to get out of a lease because of orders, but it will be much less of a nightmare.

Bottom line, ask around. Don't rent some place based solely on how it looks on the internet or in person. Talk to the housing office on the base you're headed to, and gather as much information as possible. Oh, and avoid renting sight unseen if at all possible. You do not want to sign a lease on a place based on pictures and such without seeing it in person yourself (or via a friend's pictures and experience). 

Good luck!