Apartment Hunting?

[Michelle]

Hello Ladies,

So my husband is expected to graduate from boot camp Nov 30 and will stay right in Great Lakes for his A school. He's A school is about a year long so of course me and my daughter just have to pick up and move to the windy city to be close to him! This will be my first time moving on my own anywhere so I am not sure how long the process will take. We are not using the Navy for the move this time, we're planning on doing it our own and finding a near by apartment off base. I am planning on moving out there after the holidays in the start of January. 

I would love to hear some opinions, money is very tight and I will still be in school till the end of December so I wont be able to travel back and fourth from NYC to Chicago for apartment hunting. Should I head out a few days before PIR (Nov.30) to look for apartments or should I just let my husband find us a place while his there? I'm worried that he might be too busy with school to be able to go out and look for anything. 

[Anti M]

He won't be able to go look for anything initially, he has to earn his liberty first.  He can't even leave base on weeknights in phase one.  Plus, there's catch ... for him to apply to Live Ashore, you have to be there and have a place rented already.  It will be on you to do the finding.  He can't just move off base as a student, not without permission in writing.

Find his A school group on here, see if there is a discussion about finding rentals.  I think I've even seen it here in the discussions.  You can call the housing office at Great Lakes and ask for pointers, lists of places to avoid, and so on.  

[meagan5220]

If you are tight with money you might have the military do it. If you do it yourself they do not pay for it all upfront. and I knwo people that are still fighting to get reimbursed months later.

 

I would say start looking at reviews and asking girls about places they lived that were close and felt safe, possibly call housing ask if there are any complexes that are restricted. They can also email you a list of complexes that participate in RPP in the area. that is a discount program where typically the application is for sure going to be accepted, deposit will depend on the credit application usually. but I would suggest finding a place yourself. Most landlords I know tell me they hate renting to a husband without a wife lol. If you are going to be there a year you want to be in a place you feel comfortable and happy. I would say narrow it down to a list of places you want to see. Set up appointments to view them and take applications from each place. Think of a list of questions you need to ask like parking, bills, anything else important to you. Ask them at every apt, make a spread sheet whatever it is you need to do to organize it, look at where they are in reference to the base.  That way if you guys apply he can take a lease in to put in with his live ashore chit which I think they have to have to get that process started.

[Michelle]

Thank you so much ladies! So should I arrive a few days before PIR to start looking for places or would that be too early since I am planning on moving in January? Also would I be able to speak directly with the housing office when I go there or would my husband have to officially be done with boot camp first? 

[Anti M]

Waaaay too early.  He can't move offbase for several weeks after PIR.   You can do a lot of searching online initially.  You can speak directly to the housing office.  It would be good to have the recruiter help you get a copy of his orders/contract showing he will be in Great Lakes.  Useful to be able to show them something in writing.

There is a "wives club" discussion in teh AECF group.  Let me know if you need help finding it.

[Michelle]

Thanks Anti, I know that he won't be able to move off base that early, me and my daughter are planning to live on our own there until he gets permission to move (that way we can still see him after school even though he'll have to head back at night). Do you think it would still be too early for us to start looking during PIR week? 

My husband left me all of his paper work, I'll have to check and see if he's school info is on there. I was hoping I could get everything out the way during PIR week to make things alittle easier for us. 

[Angie]

The recruiter won't be able to get his "A" School orders, as the recruit doesn't get those until about a week before PIR.  Those orders are the ones the housing office needs...the only people who can see them on the computer system is his current command (which will be RTC) and his gaining command (Which will be TSC, where his "A" School is at).  That computer system isn't open to just anyone to see that information. 

Housing office won't work with you, unless you have a hard copy of his physical orders to the "A" School. Only person you can get those from are the recruit

[meagan5220]

I agree with Anti M. Too early to start getting too super involved but I would say if you can afford it maybe go a day early and just look at apts you like, and see if they are what you want. Make a list of the ones you like, fill out applications for them, have him fill out his application and have them ready for when you decide. Also, when they are in school and you are trying to remember a piece of information to fill out his app its easier to have it already filled out lol. You can at least see which ones you do and dont like ya know? If you have the money to stay an extra day and you are already going that way its a good time to do research. That way you dont have to worry about it all when you move.

 

While things do change a lot of places also have a 60 day notice to vacate policy. So they might know if they will have places available in Jan. I just went apt hunting with a sailor and the place we went to said ok well we have an opening Jan 7th. There were only 2 out of 15 of the good places she found that had immediate openings. So it can be hard to find a good place sometimes the day of, if you know what I mean?

[meagan5220]

I also want to warn I am SUPER anal and a huge planner. Like I moved to VA in March of this year and I was looking at houses and stuff in August of last year lol!!

[Michelle]

I have been looking at apartments since the day he told me he was thinking about joining the Navy! lol 

[Michelle]

Thanks Meagan, That's one of my worries too since this is my first time apartment hunting I don't know how long it would take to get an apartment approved or if we would have to be on a waiting list, etc. That's why I was thinking maybe doing this during PIR week since I will already be in Chicago. My biggest worry is that January comes and then we have no place to go and then have to stay in NYC longer. 

[meagan5220]

Yeah a lot of apartments require a 60 day notice to vacate these days, so typically they know ahead of time. Or if you find a few places you like you can get put on a waitlist if anything does open up if they have a 30 day policy instead. and they can always take your number and call you when you get closer to move. If they know you are serious they will keep in touch. The approval shouldnt take long honestly on the apt's end. Maybe a day or so. They look at rental history, payment history, and past evictions and stuff like that. But I think its always good to be prepared. I would say dont put too much money down unless it can be refunded. Just because you never know what will happen with the miltiary!

[Michelle]

Me an my husband have never rented before, this is our first time moving out of our parents place, would it be difficult for us to get a lease? We're both 22 if that helps.