u/Empty_Somewhere_2135

Question near Ft Bragg:

We have a 3 bed/2 bath home in just north of base. Right now we’re debating between two options:

Option 1: Accept a 4-month lease at $2,400/month, knowing the lease would end around December, and then try to re-rent it for January.

Option 2: Hold out for a 12-month tenant by lowering the rent now, even if that means the house sits vacant for another month or two.

My thought process is that January might actually be a strong leasing period because:

* Campbell University has graduate programs that begin in January.
* Fort Bragg is only about 35 minutes away, so there are military PCS moves happening throughout the year.
* If we market the property in October and November, we’d have plenty of time to line up a January tenant.

On the other hand, I’m worried that intentionally ending a lease in December could backfire if demand isn’t as strong as I think. If we can’t find someone quickly, we’d be dealing with vacancy during the holidays.

If you were in my position, which option would you choose? Have any of you had success targeting January tenants near Campbell or Fort Bragg? Is the higher rent for four months worth the risk, or is it generally smarter to secure a longer lease now, even at a lower monthly rate?

Thanks!

Hello all,

We’re trying to decide whether buying a home at our next duty station is the right financial move, and I’d love to hear from people who have been in a similar situation.

We’re looking at a fully renovated 3 bed/2 bath home on 1 acre in a very desirable area of Olympia, WA, close to the Sound. It also has the potential to build an ADU in the future.

The downside is that the mortgage would be about $700/month over our BAH.

Some additional context:

* We have a high household income. (~$185k)
* We have no consumer debt—only mortgages on investment properties.
* Our North Carolina home would become a rental, but due to the interest rate we’d still cover about $600/month out of pocket
*The WA home would be ~$4000 a month mortgage at 7%
* Our Hawaii property has about $300/month in maintenance fees.
* Even with those expenses, our debt-to-income ratio is still under 32%.

What’s making this difficult is that we started investing during the COVID years with a buy-and-hold strategy, when the future of the real estate market became questionable. It’s harder for me to tell if buying with this high of a monthly mortgage is still the right long-term move or if I’m anchoring my expectations to a pessimistic market.

If you were in this position, would you buy the Olympia home, or would you rent instead? I’d especially appreciate hearing from anyone who has purchased while stationed in the JBLM/Olympia area or who has experience with long-term real estate investing.