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A Tale of Two Moves...Part 1: The Search

Once upon a time there were two Army spouses. Both of the women had school-aged children and pets. Both of the women had a limited window of time to locate housing in a place they’ve never even visited, as those places would soon become their new homes.

These are the tales of two families PCS moves and how they dealt with the search for housing.

Juanita Klemm began the search for off-post housing as many do, online.

“I looked on Zillow, Militarybuyowner.com, or any other website I could find, but the school districts were my prime focus,” Klemm said.

Her husband had already reported to Virginia a few months earlier, so she was fortunate to have him on location to view potential homes.

Klemm, a middle school administrator, stayed behind with her daughters to finish up her job and the girls’ school year. But her plan was to have a home to go to once the school year ended.

“I found that rentals listed under property management companies seemed to get back with me faster than rentals managed by the owners,” she said.

Her husband was busy in his new job during the day, so Klemm chose some homes in her desired school district and scheduled viewing appointments for him in the evenings. She also found that those same property manager listings, often yielded managers with additional home recommendations and resources.

Klemm, her daughters and their three dogs eventually made the journey from Kansas to Virginia and reunited with their soldier in their new home.

Kim Carlile had a little less time to formulate a moving plan, and, she had much further to go. Once her family received the final orders to travel from Alabama to Germany, they had about three weeks to make it all happen. And their search for a new home could not begin until they arrived in the Germany.

 “We were limited,” Carlile said. “We basically had two places to look, either government housing or privatized. If government housing is available, even if it’s off post, that’s where you go.”

When the Carliles arrived, government housing was full both on- and off-post, so they were provided with a list of landlords with properties that had been referred in the past. There were two homes to choose from on the list.

“Our only other option was to spend money out of our pockets and find our own realtor to help us search,” Carlile said.

They chose a home from the list and lived in a temporary lodging for three weeks while they waited for their new home to be move in ready.

Her son and daughter  had previously attended a DOD (Department of Defense) school on-post prior to the move, so not only was the transition smooth for her children’s education, but Carlile said the school administrators were extremely helpful with recommendations and logistics.

Both of these home searches ended successfully, but not without learning experiences.

Klemm, taking advantage of her television satellite company’s no stress moving policy, discovered upon arrival that her neighborhood homeowner’s association had strict rules about satellite dishes. The company refunded any additional money Klemm spent, but she highly recommends obtaining a copy of the homeowner’s association policy before a move or even before signing a lease, to avoid surprises.

Klemm also recommends being pro-active with a property manager.

“Ask him or her if there is anything additional you need to know about the house,” she said.

Once the Carliles settled into their new German home, although she was happy there, Kim discovered she may have had some additional resources to take advantage of in her home search.

“If I had had more time to prepare, I would have found a military spouses Facebook group in Germany to provide me with feedback on housing options, the search process and the move in general. When you’re doing this for the first time, sometimes you just don’t know what questions to even ask,” she said.

Both Klemm and Carlile did as much preparing as they had the time or resources to do so. Their families worked together, and these ladies used technology and in-person resources to make their moves a success. Both families are currently living …”happily ever after.”

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