Living on or off base?

Question

I am trying to decide which would be better and would like to know the pros and cons of each. Thank you in advance (:

Answer

It depends on what the duty station is, honestly. Both have advantages and disadvantages. We live in privatized military housing and have no complaints.

Answer

We tried living on base and hated it. Their rules are rather oppressive and they take all of your BAH no matter what rank. That was the reason we first moved out into town, my husband was promoted and they raised our rent for the same house. We found an apartment out in town and ended up pocketing money each month. On base housing is more convenient as far as location and not having to search for a place. However the construction is usually poor increasing your utility bills. Privatizing the housing was a terrible decision for the quality.

Answer

My mom told me, money wise, that you're better off living off base until you have three or four kids. Especially here in Hawaii,  it's so hard to get housing! Not to mention, you need to buy your own major appliances and *i think* you have to pay utilities. It's a relatively old issue that i didn't really pay attention to.

Ps, my mom works federal, finance department.

Answer

Depends on where you are living. Here in San Diego my husband and I live on base and we save $500 a month in bah. No utilities since it's included in rent. We have a huge townhome. We could not find what we have in town for what we spend. It's just not possible here. But I cannot say the same for other bases.

Answer

We are choosing to live on base because everything off base in my area are apartments and really expensive.

Answer

We live off base, it's saves more money living off base for us.

Answer

My husband lived overseas for almost 6years and he loved living off base bc he could experience the culture of the country he was stationed at,plus didn't have to see his co workers and bosses all day when he was off work.Needless to say that he met me there and I'm not American.We just moved to northern california 4months ago and we decided to start living on base to save up some money since here it is impossible to make money living off base,a decent house wouldn't be less than $2,500 plus utilities.I'm glad we choose staying on base now bc he got a huge cut off from his paycheck here in the States and even without paying bills we struggle to make it to the next paycheck.The house is nice and we live in a nice neighborhood.I don't even know my neighbors to be honest.What I don't like is that they have too many stupid rules on base and that the house didn't have washer,dryer nor microwave :( we still need to buy a dryer

Answer

My husband and I live off base. We own our home now but in previous years we have chosen to live off base because: 
1. They take all BAH
2. Some places don't include utilities
3. It's like being in a HOA, only you don't own the home lol. 
4. It's a hassle to have friends and family over that are not military or dependents. If the housing is located on a base, some bases require a full vehicle inspection and a pass for non-military ID card holders.

Answer

We live in a townhouse on post at Ft.Hood and enjoy it. Even though they take all BAH, we have a lot of room in our place compared to our friends who rent apartments the same size.

Answer

We always chose to live off base you can find a nice place maybe even cheaper than on base and pocket some BAH.

Living on or off base?

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