In true military fashion, they told us on June 6 that we are moving July 1- 31, whenever we can find a house. Shane needs to be there no later than July 31.
As I write this, it's currently June 14, and we have a nice spreadsheet going of about 20 potential houses, so we'll see what ends up happening! I have 2 houses highlighted as my favorite, but once again, it's hard to for sure decide on a house without seeing the area- even though we are renting again since we should only be there for 2-3 years. (Fun fact: I've never lived in an apartment or house that I actually saw before signing the lease!) Military gets realtors for free, so Shane has been chatting with one, so we're getting there slowly but surely.
With the current housing market that is absolutely insane, and with all of the cities around Quantico, where we will be stationed, the cost of houses is super high. DC is only 45 minutes away, Arlington, Alexandria, and so many others are right there too. Especially compared to where we are currently at in North Carolina, it's hard to find something comparable to what we currently have in quality and price, even with our Basic Housing Allowance (money the military gives us for our housing) increasing due to the higher prices in that area.
So many people in that area are renting out JUST one room or JUST the basement of their house (that they're still living in) for $2,000 a month. Are you sure you want us and our 2 husky puppies doing that??
We do have some main non-negotiables that narrow out a LOT of the nice houses.
- Big (or at least medium sized) yard that is fenced in for the dogs (Urgh, this removes so many super nice houses that are in our price range, but there is no way we can survive without a fenced in yard with these two!)
- In a neighborhood with sidewalks (for all the dog walks we have to do)
- Shane would ideally like a garage still
Overall, it seems like Virginia (of course) has a lot of older and historic houses. They also have a TON of townhouses. We don't necessarily want to downsize, even though this is just a temporary home, but we also don't want to pour more money into another temporary home.
We did submit an application for on-base housing, although that isn't our ideal. However, it's a great backup and has many great benefits if that does end up being the case. Usually there's a wait list for on-base housing though, that could put us in a hotel or apartment for 3-6 months. That is SO not doable with Cash and Caylor, so I am praying that doesn't end up being our reality.
So, why are we moving? Shane made it through the entire MARSOC training, but he did not get selected due to how family-oriented he is. They tend to go for younger, single men. Since that didn't work out, his orders happened to be up this summer, and we got our otherwise first choice of job and location. Shane will be a TBS (The Basic School) Instructor (in common people terms, I refer to this as a drill sargent) in Quantico. He will be great at that job, and from day one I said that is one he would absolutely love! It's nondeployable and should primarily have normal working hours. We are so excited for this!
We wanted a location that was still East coast and not too big of a transition from where we currently are, could be considered Southern, wasn't too far of a drive from my parents' and my number 1... a more populated, suburban or close to a city feel! We will sure have lots of states and cities nearby us there! It also helps that Shane is originally from that area, although his family now is all in Louisiana. When I first visited his hometown outside of DC, I could not believe how many big cities and states all seemed to be right there and so close to each other. We're looking forward to all the sightseeing and history coming our way soon. We also have plans to take advantage of the upper East coast, where neither of us have really been before. Some of our other options to move to were Arizona, California, Hawaii- which all would have been great if we were younger, but at this stage in our life, we definitely are taking different factors into consideration.
Now, there will be more coming later on our departure from North Carolina, but I have to say that it's hard to believe we've already been here for 2 years. Shane has actually been here for almost 3 years. Time sure does fly. I will miss being right next to the ocean, but I am more than ready for a more populated area.
All in all, the way I've dealt with military things the past few years is not really thinking about them and then suddenly the day of, I'm like "Wait what's happening today? For how long?" and it finally hits me, hah. So I'm taking that laid back approach this time too. It'll all work out, we'll find a house, and I'm not stressing along the way. We'll keep you updated!
Thanks for your continued support throughout all of our crazy life endeavors...here we go again!
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