How to Find a House When No Houses Are Available: Military Family Moving Tips

Knowing how to find a new house is a big deal in a housing market like the one we currently have. Planning a move when so few houses are available for rent or sale is such a nightmare for military families and civilians alike.

Moving was never easy, but this is definitely the most stressful housing market I have ever had to participate in.

As soon as a house (that is priced correctly) enters the market, it is gone in a few days. It’s not just “for sale” houses either. It is also rentals. Rentals are hard to find, especially if you know exactly where you want to live and are restricting it to a specific area.

Bidding wars abound, and it is all just terrifying really.

These are my best tips for military families navigating the intimidating housing shortage.

I have been an Army wife for twenty years, so I have a ton to tell you on this subject…

#1.) Don’t wait until the last minute to start looking for a place. Give yourself plenty of time by starting your search early.

In busy cities, like the D.C. area, many rentals will rent out three months in advance. Go ahead and start your search EARLY. I’ve been looking since February, and we aren’t moving until July.

We have lived in the D.C. area twice before, and both times we signed leases about three months before we actually moved in. That has not worked out for us this time.

#2.) Don’t ONLY look on Zillow, Redfin, and Google to find a house. (But do look there).

In a year with low inventory like this, I cannot stress this enough. What you need is a place to live, and sometimes you can find houses that are not listed with a realtor.

This happens when the owners don’t want to have to filter through hundreds of rental inquiries from Zillow. So they will announce the rental to a smaller audience, in hopes of less hassle.

Where else is there to look to find these?

Militarybyowner.com!!!!! This one is my favorite.

I cannot stress this one enough. We have found two different, really nice rental houses on there in the past ten years. They do operate all over the country. These are always property owners who prefer to rent to military families.

AHRN.com

Homes.mil

militarytownadvisor.com

#3.) Join Facebook groups for the place you are moving to, especially military family groups!!

This does work best if you are moving to a big base or city. But even if you are moving to a small city, it is likely to have a Facebook group. There is a Facebook group for EVERYTHING these days. I joined a few for the area I am moving to, and I even found some that are for military families specifically.

Look for Facebook mil spouses groups to that base. Then look for community pages for people in that county or city.

They do not usually allow realtors to post in these groups. However, they DO allow people selling or leasing their own home or looking for a house or a renter to post. I see it all the time.

#4.) Word of Mouth

If you know ANYONE in the area you are looking to move to, let them know you are looking for a house.

This is how I found the house I am currently planning to move into this summer. It is also how I found my house just two moves ago. I have this one friend who I call up and say, “Hey, I’m moving there,” and she got to work finding out who was moving, and she sent me their landlords’ phone numbers. She sent me about six different houses to look into, and one of them is working out for us.

Currently, we have one of those houses she found being held for us. We are waiting on the current tenant family in that house to get their orders (in the military, your orders allow you to start planning your move). We’ve had our orders for a while, but we have to wait for them to get theirs so we can all plan moving dates. We are hoping it will work out and their orders won’t fall through or something, and yes, it makes me so nervous.

#5.) If you might buy a house, get pre-approved for a loan, and hire a realtor.

If you even think you might buy a home, go ahead and get pre-approved for a loan. That way you know what kind of houses you can afford to look at. Hire a realtor to help you with the process. We have bought houses four times out of our thirteen moves, and each of those four times we had an awesome realtor helping us out.

If you hire a realtor through usaa.com (assuming you have an account with USAA), you can even earn money for using one of the realtors in their system. We got at least a thousand dollars that way a couple of times.

#6.) Call the base housing office on the base you are moving to.

Ask them what schools they are zoned for if you have school aged children.

Google those schools. Read about them. Ask around. If you are okay with that school district, then get on the housing wait list. Sometimes you will get a house a lot faster than you think. Other times, you will have to wait a long time.

Ask them what you need to have to get on their waiting list. They are not all the same. Some will make you report in person to even get on the list. Others will accept you as soon as you have orders. There are even some bases that will let you move right in, with little to no waiting at all.

If at all possible, find this out BEFORE you move out of the house you are leaving. Anytime you can orchestrate a door to door move, it is such a luxury. I can’t tell you how many times in our early years we had to move into hotels or our parents’ houses while we were between houses, and that prolongs the process.

Sometimes it just isn’t possible to go door to door, and you have to let your stuff go to storage, and that is okay, but it does leave you open for more things to get lost or damaged in your shipment.

But hey, we have had to let our stuff go to storage before, and it was not the end of the world at all. Everything turned out fine. Take a deep breath. It will really be okay. Really really.

Side tip:

If you are moving to the D.C. area, you may be able to secure housing at any of the surrounding military installations, not only the one you are assigned to. We once lived on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling, while Alan was stationed at the Navy Yard. You just never know unless you call and ask!

#7.) Remember. This will be your home for a few years, not the rest of your life. Every house does not have to be your dream home.

There was this one house we lived in in California that kind of was though. That one was so amazing. We could see the Pacific Ocean from our front porch. Unbelievable.

We have lived in some quirky houses over the years, but they have all served us well, and I remember them all fondly.

#8.) Don’t freak out.

You WILL find a house that will work for your family. Try to stay calm for your own health and for your kiddos. They need to see this as a positive thing, a grand adventure.

Your plan A for moving will probably fall apart at one or two places, but eventually it will all come together. Try to only focus on the one step you can control at that moment. One step at a time.

Movers may show up on different days than they said they would. Your lease dates may get moved by your landlord. You may lose a bidding war. Or you may have to wait longer than you wanted. Who knows? Just try to only worry about one step at a time. Do not fret over things that may not even happen.

Oh, and feed your movers. Subway sandwich trays work really well.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have about the moving process below.

I am happy to answer anything I can. If you want to read more about moving, you can also check out my articles here and here.