Buy a house in the army

[Buying a house]

My husband and i wanted to buy a home but we are really confused on how it works. What happened if we buy and then we habe to pcs? What can we do? Is selling in 2 yrs affect my credit?

[ETBrown]

pcs is one of the downfalls when owning a home. Most of my friends leave there spouse with the house when they deploy to a diffrent region. This would qualify them for geo bachelor status allowing them to continue paying for there home while deployed. make sure to do your homework and goodluck .

[Ltlsarge1]

I retired from the USMC, knowing that I would be getting transferred every few years, buying a house didn't make sense. We for the most part would live in government quarters and save every Pennie we could. When I retired we were able to put over $20,000 down on the house of our dreams in the location where we retired to. In this market, buying and selling every 3-4 years would not be coat effective.

[user.login: Please s]

Don't buy a home. Besides, I'm sure you'd like to borrow ridiculous sums of money to buy your house. Don't do it. Debt is slavery. Begin to save now. Learn thrift. Then, buy your home.

[JazzyLady]

From my experience wait until you retire to purchase a home! Sometimes it is hard to sell when PCSing.....

[Whybu]

We bought and sold a couple homes while on active duty.  Hard to find rentals with 2 Great Danes.  We had no trouble selling 2 of our houses but the third was bought when the housing market in El Paso was at its peak.  We had to keep and rent it for almost 10 years and just managed to break even.  Just know that selling can result in a substantial loss if the timing is off.

[whyhellothere]

Buying a home is a great idea-much smarter than renting. You will have to rent out he house if you PCS and want to PCS with your spouse or sell it. Selling it in two years will not affect your credit at all. If you make money on the home and move over 50miles away you will NOT have to pay taxes on the proceeds. If you move under 50 miles away then you will have to pay taxes on the proceeds

[Brandon Jacobson]

I'm sure one of USAA's Certified Financial Planners will comment on this, but until then, purchasing a home in the military is dependent on your current financial status and goals. To specifically answer your question, if you PCS you will have to sell the house and/or rent it out. And selling in 2 years should not affect your credit score. It may perhaps increase it assuming you paid your mortgage and bills on time for the life of the loan and ownership. I would consider the following before purchasing a home: - Are you financiall prepared to purchase a home? Do you already have proper insurance, emergency accounts, a handle on your debt, started to invest for retirement, etc? - Are you mentally prepared to purchas a home? You will have to maintain the home and there are hundreds of hidden costs with owning a home. For example, here in Louisiana, I have to pay $85 a quarter for mosquito spraying (A GREAT INVESTMENT). All-in-all, owning a home is normally a solid investment in the military. It allows you to "collect" the BAH you would otherwise send to someone else (on-base or renting). Also, real estate ownership is an important part of a 4-step retirement plan. I refer to it as a "leg" in a sturdy retirement chair. You can read all about the "chair" retirement analogy on my personal finance blog for military memberst at: http://militaryfinrep.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-do-i-need-to-retire.html