How to PCS After Buying a House: A Military Spouse Guide

Moving to a new duty station in a state you’ve never been to can be daunting.  It may seem like the perfect solution to buy a home that you can immediately move into, especially after an overseas tour with two toddlers in tow. At least, it certainly seemed that way to my spouse and me. But, as with many military journeys, the Navy had other plans. Even though we were just four years from retirement, extending our tour wasn’t an option. This created a new challenge we hadn’t faced in our previous seven moves: what do we do with our house?

Right now, I’m in the middle of this PCS, facing many questions I wish someone had answered for me. So, I want to share the advice I’ve been desperately searching for.

Navigating Your PCS Homefront: Exploring Your Options

We were faced with three options when our hard orders hit and our chances of extension disappeared: sell the house, rent the house out, or keep it as a second property. 

We immediately knew the third option was not possible for us financially. We couldn’t afford to have a mortgage and pay rent at the new duty station. However, if this is a possibility for you then there are some positive points to it. You would keep your long-term investment in your home. There would be a place you could return to should anything happen and it would be one less thing you would need to figure out. 

But, having a property sit empty does also pose some risks. Without family in the area willing to check on the property (or live in it) you risk missing signs of repair needs, not to mention natural disasters or human intervention. If this is the route you choose, consider getting a property manager who can keep an eye on your home while you’re away.

If this option doesn’t work for you, like it didn’t for us, there are still two other options.

Selling Savvy: Tips to Get Your Home Sold with Confidence

Deciding to sell is an appealing option. There would be no need to keep up with the property as with the previous choice, and there wouldn’t be the risk of nightmare tenants ruining your lovely home. But what should you take into account when selling?

Decide if you’re going to hire a realtor or sell your home on your own. Personally, the amount of work that goes into selling a home would be overwhelming to me so I would always choose to go with a realtor. Ask your fellow military spouses for their recommendations and I can guarantee you will likely meet some wonderful realtors who understand how hard military moves are and are eager to help. 

If possible, choose to sell your house when the market is in the best shape for sellers. If you want to get your investment back you need to keep an eye on houses in your area that are comparable and price accordingly. Make sure you highlight any upgrades you may have made to the house. For example we installed an A/C and built a shed in the backyard. Both of these improvements increased the value of our home which should be taken into account when pricing and marketing the property. Advertise your home in local military spouse Facebook groups, as well as the usual places like Zillow or other sites. Stage your home with neat and clean furniture that makes your place look like the model home. Photos bring people into your property–once they see its beauty, they’ll be caught.

Be sure you keep closing costs and other fees into account. A realtor comes in as the hero here and will know all the ways to help you come out ahead instead of at a loss.

Renting Ready: What Every Military Landlord Should Know

Though selling appealed to us at first, ultimately, we preferred the idea of having a set home we could return to once retirement came. So, we chose to go with renting our home out. 

It’s officially time to prep your house for renters. The first thing we did, and I highly recommend you do, is hire a rental property manager. I cannot stress this enough; you will not be near your home. If any repairs pop up, emergencies, late payments, HOA violations, etc. happen they will handle it for you. Not only that, but they screen tenants for you, and I think that alone is worth their fee.

If you decide to do it on your own to save the costs, make sure you still set aside money for repairs the home will require plus maintenance of hiring cleaners between renters. If you live in an HOA, also keep in mind if there are limits to how many homes in your neighborhood can be listed as a rental property. And as with selling a home, you need to market your home as well, the sites mentioned before (Facebook groups and Zillow) are a great place to start. Also make sure you price your rental with local prices in mind. 

Heart and Home: Emotional and Practical Support for Military Spouses

So, your home is now figured out, but what about you and your family? A house isn’t just somewhere you live, its memories you’re leaving behind. My youngest son took his first steps in this house. My kids went from still looking like innocent infants to daredevil toddlers in this home. How am I supposed to leave that behind?

Connecting with other military spouses through MSAN’s Mentorship-HUB has been a huge help in being able to discuss my feelings and walk through this new change. It’s also a great way to make friends beforehand at your next duty station! I have met wonderful spouses through the HUB and cannot stress this resource enough. In addition to the connections you’ll make the MSAN course, PCS like a Pro, is only available in the Mentorship-HUB. This amazing course will deep dive into all the questions you may have about your upcoming PCS and arm you with all of the resources you could need.

Joining the local spouse groups for your new duty station also helps. Because now you need to decide if you’ll be renting off base or trying for on base housing. I always advise reaching out to the new housing office as soon as you have hard orders just so that they can know you’re coming. You won’t be placed on the active list but you’ll be placed on a list that they can then move you from to the active list when you check out of your current command. They can also give you a loose idea of what your wait time could be for housing, which could then determine if you’d rather pursue renting or buying off base. Either way, there’s no harm in reaching out ahead.

Wrapping It Up: Your Next Steps and Encouragement

No matter what choice you go with, you have a huge community behind you who can relate to your situation. We are always here eager to help and empathize with you. As military spouses, we have to be able to adapt faster than a toddler spots the one thing you told them not to touch. 

We have mentors available 24/7 in the Mentorship-HUB to help you through this time. You can do this. You are not alone.