Military servicemen and women get many kinds of benefits as part of their official package, and one of these is accommodation. Almost every US military base has some form of accommodation available for those enlisted in the military and assigned to that very base. They are also paid a monthly home allowance, but living on-site means they have to give away the entire allowance money irrespective of the value received in return.

While many are okay with this, there are families who often think of shifting to off-base housing for various reasons, whether it is to spend their daily lives in a civilian environment, or to possibly get a bigger house within the same housing allowance money. If you are looking to shift to an off-base house on a rent-basis, here is our concise guide on how to efficiently achieve that with minimal efforts.

Step 1: Look for Military Rental Listings Online

Different bases have different home-sizes, so the first thing you need to do is to check whether the off-base houses in that area are bigger than your on-base house, or if they cost less for the same square feet area. If any of the requirements is fulfilled, then you will gain a benefit from renting off-base house. You can look up on military rental sites that exclusively offer house rental listings for military men and women.

Step 2: Only Look for Free Rental Listings by Owner

Brokers or realtors play a big role in property dealings, so they are inevitable when you are looking for properties on rent. However, avoid those listings posted by brokers or real estate agents. Always go for free rental house listings by the owner of the house. This is because you are more likely to get a better knowledge of the house from the owner rather that a broker who often deal with multiple properties at once. Real estate agents will definitely come into picture, but later.

Step 3: Visit the Property in Person

The next step is to visit the property in person. You have to make sure that the house and its surroundings look exactly the same as they did in photos posted on the real estate listings website. Check the entire house inside out to make sure everything is on order and up to date on specifications mentioned in the house listing. Driving to the house will also give you an estimate of time required for your daily commute to and from the base. Your ideal home should not be too far from the base, otherwise you’ll end up spending more time commuting than with your family.

Step 4: Finalize the Cost to be Borne by You

All military real estate listings will definitely have the monthly rent mentioned on the site, but do ask the owner for the total cost of rent, just to be sure. Sometimes, owners skip out on additional charges such as maintenance charges, water charges and security fees, if any. Ask them the total, final price that you will be paying every month, and make sure that price is within your monthly housing allowance. This will also bring out any hidden costs that the owner may have failed to mention online.

Step 5: Get a Real Estate Agent

The final step before the house is handed over to you is to hire a real estate agent. You can obviously deal with the documents and contacts yourself, but some of the legal terms may not be immediately clear to you if you haven’t dealt with renting the house. To make sure everything is written in contract, including terms and conditions, hire a suitable real estate agent who are experts in the field. They can chalk up the appropriate contract, along with special military concessions, if any.

For example, military servicemen and women can be transferred to another base anytime, so there should be a condition in the contract that you can immediately vacate the house in case of a transfer order from the higher ups, without paying any additional fine or by paying minimal fine. The real estate agent will make sure clauses like that are included in the contract.