Hello everyone! My name is Sandi, and my DH is Tony, and he just celebrated his tenth anniversary in the Navy. :cp We have two kids, Aislinn (7) and Jonny (3)

Here's our dilemma.

We've never lived on base housing. We lived in Great Lakes for almost two years, and in Virginia for four. We currently live in St. Louis Mo while DH does recruiting (Fyi, don't ever do recruiting, it will have you longing for deployments... seriously) and we live in Government lease housing. Which is basically a privately owned home, where the government pays all bills. Kind of like base housing when there is no base housing around. All the other places we rented apartments.

I am a stay at home mom, and really don't want to have to get a job to make ends meet, so we decided to stay on base housing when we move BACK to VA in November. Tony will be stationed at Little Creek Amphib base, and our plan was to try to get in there for base housing. I was told today, that the wait for that place with children is 3-6 months, BUT if we were flexible about where we wanted to stay, we would more than likely be able to get in somewhere else immediatley. Our options right now seem to be Willoughby Bay and Queens way? Something with Queens in it.

Now, I know how it works. Virginia Beach is the "nice" area and Norfolk is like Va Beach's cracked out older sister. ;) We lived in Norfolk before, and never felt out of place or uncomfortable, but now that we have kids, our main concern is schools and safety.

So, after my long seliloquy what is your opinion of these housing options? WE've looked at renting, and well there aren't a LOT of options in my opinion. You either get a big cheap dump, or a small nice place for our budget. Buying... well for some reason this doesn't appeal to us. WE'd like to buy when we know we'll be staying somewhere for awhile, it just seems silly to us to buy something only to leave it so quickly. Rather not become emotionally attatched or be stuck in a situation because of it. Should we find an apartment with a short lease and just wait until the Little creek housing becomes available?

Thanks in advance!!

Ok I would not move into Willoughby Bay the three bedrooms are really small and the matnence is horrable ( I was just moved out last week due to black mold in my house)

I am currently in Norwich Mannor which is right behind Queens Way I think they are the same set up and are really nice. If I had to choose, I would go with Queens Way.

I hope your move goes well

Thank you for your response!

I know that the base housing at Little creek has like a jog run, a playground and so forth, do these have those as well?

Hi and welcome im not on base housing so i couldnt help sorry

I am in housing at Yorktown Weapons Station so I am not sure about the other areas. I wanted to live in this area and this is what I picked. I am from the area so i wanted to give this side of the bridge a try. I like it. I could stand for me house to be bigger. We left Great Lakes a little over a year ago and had a nice two story house. But it is just the kids and I for the most part. DH is getting ready to deploy so I guess it works out in the long run. IMO I would never live in Norfolk. I am sure some areas may be nice but it's just not for me.

I live in Housing in VA beach, i don't know if they are allowing anyone to move into Little creek for 3 bedrooms i thought they were tearing them all down. We live in Oceana housing, its really big, we do have a bike path as well. my DH is stationed in Norfolk. We don't live in norfolk because of the schools. i LOVE my sons school we live in Wadsworth Shores, there isn't a huge yard or a garage but the house is actually a really decent size. we happen to live in one of the two courts that are old officer housing. the kitchen lacks cupboards though, but we have a TON of storage and my oldest son's room is a great size for navy housing. we did fight the bugs though, we had a roach issue but it didn't take long to clear up. a day is too long if you ask me when it comes to bugs. But i absolutely LOVE the school. you also might want to check into Fort Story housing as well. its closer to little creek and its GORGOUS. its an army post but you can live in ANY military housing as long as you have orders to that area! hindsight is 20/20 that is where we would have gone its still in VA Beach school district.

Hello & welcome to SOS

Ok then can someone break it down for me? How did you get into base housing away from Norfolk? Did you just wait? Did you get a short term lease with an apartment. Did you just stick with the bare minimum of stuff at your apt. then move again? Two moves in three to six months... yikes.

As much as everyone is helpful of all the places I'vecalled, they have THEIR best interest in mind you know, it would be helpful to hear from someone that is /was in MY situation.


I really feel like this :banghead If it was me and DH it wouldnt be an issue. WE'd live anywhere. But having a school aged child, it is SO hard.:(

Welcome to SOS!

They don't have a running path that I know of but it is a normal neighborhood so running through the streets or on the sidewalk is always a possablity. They have playgrounds everywhere I have one right behind my house.

You can live on any base housing in the area. Since I am from the area and famililar with the areas I requested Yorktown. My Dh is at NOB. It's not a bad trip to work but I think anyplace will have traffic so that was not really a big issue for us. My main concern since I have older kids is school. Living in Yorktown my kids go to a wonderful school in Williamsburg. I am really happy with my choice. Every decision we made was for the benifit of the kids.:)

we were on the waiting list before we left our last command, because he was in school and we could on the list, because the ship sent him to the school. so it worked out but we got right in. we weren't picky the pickier you are the longer you will wait. we have a bike path and a ton of playgrounds i do wish we had a bigger yard and a garage but i was just happy with the school district and that i don't ever have to shovel snow again!

That's what I was telling my husband, that we have to think of the kids, and Va beach just has the better schools over Norfolk. He got a little pissy because he wants it SETTLED, but I told him today that I dont want to get stuck somewhere and totally hate it. He says going there not knowing where we're going to live is going to drive him crazy.

Right now I guess we'll have to take a wait and see attitude. We can get on the list the 20th of November, as he detaches from the recruiting command on the 19th. We'll just have to wait and see.

Thank you all for your help! :D

if you get queens way the school is right on camp allen there is also the MCX right ast the top of the street. We live in the same area so its not so bad.