By far the most stressful thing about moving back to the U.S. is deciding where to live.
When we're overseas, the Embassy Housing Board just assigns us some place, based on the housing pool available and the officer's rank and family size (spelled out in 15 FAM Exhibit 237A, if you're curious about the government regulations on rank and square footage). I have yet to be selected as a volunteer for a housing board, but I'm really interested to do so to learn about the decision making process. E.g., weighing the rank of a section chief with no kids at home against a junior officer with four kids against a stand alone house vs. an apartment in a swank building near the school. Almost all posts send out a questionnaire to gauge a family's preference, but often it boils down to what's available when you arrive.
Going back to DC, though, we have no such housing board to miraculously place us somewhere. And our condo at 2 bedrooms, laundry in the basement, and 1000 sq ft would be more than a little tight for our family of five, plus nanny. As much as we love our condo, it's right out. The row houses in the same neighborhood are upwards of $800K, sadly out of our price range. Our dreams of staying in Glover Park are dashed.
Realistically looking at our budget, wanting to stay in a close in area, and Greg's automatic rejection of anything in Virginia, has led us to look at the Shepherd Park / Silver Spring / Takoma Park neighborhoods. Still pretty pricey, but possible to find something in the $650K range. While I say this all very matter of factly, it wasn't easy rejecting our old "west of the Park" orientation or the Capitol Hill area (which I really came to love during prego-vac ... and which has a public Montessori charter school we could have entered the boys in a lottery for).
Holidays were spent evaluating financing options (what happens if our tenants refuse to move out and we can't sell the condo?) and timing requirements (we must occupy the house in 60 days, so the earliest possible closing date is March 1). Then lining up mortgage pre-qualification (after many attempts, a broker recommended by our real estate agent pulled through with flying colors). Now for the super tricky part - looking at listings online and communicating our likes/dislikes to my sister (our eyes on the ground) and the real estate agent.
It's difficult to weigh the house price / house feel option from across an ocean. E.g., one is listed now with a good floor plan and good location, but super ugly 1960s facade and bright yellow paint inside. How much of a discount should we ask from list price? It's a lot of trust to place in our agent - and a big burden to ask of my sister. But, considering we do need some place to live come June 1, not sure we have any other option.
(Note: the State Department isn't totally cruel. For a domestic transfer, we do get a $77/night allowance for the first 30 days to help defray the cost of a hotel while searching for a house or while waiting for furniture shipment to arrive. And, in our case, since we are both officers, we both get the $77/night. It's not really enough to cover the cost in the DC area, but every little bit does help.)
When we're overseas, the Embassy Housing Board just assigns us some place, based on the housing pool available and the officer's rank and family size (spelled out in 15 FAM Exhibit 237A, if you're curious about the government regulations on rank and square footage). I have yet to be selected as a volunteer for a housing board, but I'm really interested to do so to learn about the decision making process. E.g., weighing the rank of a section chief with no kids at home against a junior officer with four kids against a stand alone house vs. an apartment in a swank building near the school. Almost all posts send out a questionnaire to gauge a family's preference, but often it boils down to what's available when you arrive.
Going back to DC, though, we have no such housing board to miraculously place us somewhere. And our condo at 2 bedrooms, laundry in the basement, and 1000 sq ft would be more than a little tight for our family of five, plus nanny. As much as we love our condo, it's right out. The row houses in the same neighborhood are upwards of $800K, sadly out of our price range. Our dreams of staying in Glover Park are dashed.
Realistically looking at our budget, wanting to stay in a close in area, and Greg's automatic rejection of anything in Virginia, has led us to look at the Shepherd Park / Silver Spring / Takoma Park neighborhoods. Still pretty pricey, but possible to find something in the $650K range. While I say this all very matter of factly, it wasn't easy rejecting our old "west of the Park" orientation or the Capitol Hill area (which I really came to love during prego-vac ... and which has a public Montessori charter school we could have entered the boys in a lottery for).
Holidays were spent evaluating financing options (what happens if our tenants refuse to move out and we can't sell the condo?) and timing requirements (we must occupy the house in 60 days, so the earliest possible closing date is March 1). Then lining up mortgage pre-qualification (after many attempts, a broker recommended by our real estate agent pulled through with flying colors). Now for the super tricky part - looking at listings online and communicating our likes/dislikes to my sister (our eyes on the ground) and the real estate agent.
It's difficult to weigh the house price / house feel option from across an ocean. E.g., one is listed now with a good floor plan and good location, but super ugly 1960s facade and bright yellow paint inside. How much of a discount should we ask from list price? It's a lot of trust to place in our agent - and a big burden to ask of my sister. But, considering we do need some place to live come June 1, not sure we have any other option.
(Note: the State Department isn't totally cruel. For a domestic transfer, we do get a $77/night allowance for the first 30 days to help defray the cost of a hotel while searching for a house or while waiting for furniture shipment to arrive. And, in our case, since we are both officers, we both get the $77/night. It's not really enough to cover the cost in the DC area, but every little bit does help.)
3 comments:
Don't forget PWP :)
It's too bad VA is out, as there are so many nice areas and much easier commutes than from MD (but Takoma Park...I'd love to live there!). Don't forget your kids when adding up your per diem...you have 3, right? So with the HSTA, you will get 50% of Conus times 3.
Good luck with the house hunt!
Maybe renting makes more sense? Skip all the fees?
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