Im not sure if this is the right place to post this. But ok, im gonna be moving to fort bragg in less than a year, and DF wants me to look into places so as soon as he gets back he can go and put in for it. now heres the question(s):

1.Which would be smarter renting a house or an apartment? why and why not?..your opinions please.
2. Or should we just get base housing?

I mean im thinking in the long run here, hes got 4 more years left there and we have 2 little ones going as well. so im not sure what to do.

It really depends on the house/apartment. You have to check with a lot of houses for rent to see if they require you to maintain the yard, maitenance, etc. because some housing rental companies do it for you, others don't, so that's an added cost. Appartments are usually good in the fact that they have "free" maitenance and you don't have to take care of yard work - also a lot of times you can get a nicer space for less price since you're not paying for the rent of property as well as a house rent. Also make sure you know what your BAH will be and how much house/apartment you can afford with that much $$..if it's not enough, then I suggest going to on-post housing. I can't really offer any suggestions with on-post housing since I've never lived on-post, but if you can't afford a rental apt. or house with BAH, then that's probably the way to go so you can save some $$!

It really depends on the house/apartment. You have to check with a lot of houses for rent to see if they require you to maintain the yard, maitenance, etc. because some housing rental companies do it for you, others don't, so that's an added cost. Appartments are usually good in the fact that they have "free" maitenance and you don't have to take care of yard work - also a lot of times you can get a nicer space for less price since you're not paying for the rent of property as well as a house rent. Also make sure you know what your BAH will be and how much house/apartment you can afford with that much $$..if it's not enough, then I suggest going to on-post housing. I can't really offer any suggestions with on-post housing since I've never lived on-post, but if you can't afford a rental apt. or house with BAH, then that's probably the way to go so you can save some $$!:yes

Also if your not married you cant get base housing..

It depends on your needs and how much money you can spend. We rent a house because we have so much stuff it is pretty much impossible to live in an apartment again. Plus, with 3 kids I know I'd be getting complaints all the time from my kids being too loud. I don't know why I was blessed with the loudest kids on Earth but I was. :giggle We also have a dog and a cat which make it really hard to find an apartment that will allow both of them. You also have to look at the school districts if you have a child or children in school. And like what was stated before, if you guys aren't married housing is not an option. We lived in housing for a bit, it was an apartment. It was nice. We didn't have much stuff then since we were just starting out. Only had 1 child. I had no yard work or anything to keep up with when John was deployed. And there were many wives that lived right by me with hubby's on the same ship as my hubby. However, that also got to be a bad thing cause everyone was up in everyone else's business. My suggestion is to just look at what your needs are and then look at your money and see what you can afford. Then go from there. You may also find that what you originally thought to be better or worse is actually not the case. Good Luck.

thanks for the help ladies. i looked into how much he'd be getting for not being married and how much he would, and since we both have quit a few bills, i think it'd be best to rent a house. i found one for about 500-550 at the most. so that'd work out great. then after we get married and before he deploys i'll tell him to look into gettin a house on base.