Married quarters? Please help am new to this!

Blackpool_Saver

Well it sounds good to me, low rent, repairs done, why not do it for a while and save for a deposit on a place of your own?

ChuckieD

Hiya Kim,

I've been married for 3 and a bit years now. I'm originally from London, never lived anywhere else until I was 26 - now I live in Germany. We moved over here after a Bordon posting but we lived in Church Crookham which is about 40 minutes away. Before that we were in Wattisham Airfield which is about 90 miles or so from London.

I was pregnant too and it was very, very difficult being away from my family (my father was terminally ill at the time also which added to the emotion!) but it did set me up for being further away. I couldn't actually imagine having my mum two minutes down the road now!

Personally, I would suggest you move in MQs in Bordon to give you a chance to adapt to being away from home and to experience Army life full force. What you have to bear in mind is that when your husband leaves Bordon he could literally be posted anywhere, you can put in a preference but there's no guarantee he'll get it. If he's posted abroad, it will be much harder if you've not lived away from your family.

People only know your business if you tell them, and it's only a fishbowl if you let it be.

Do you drive?

helsee

ChuckieD wrote: »

Hiya Kim,


People only know your business if you tell them, and it's only a fishbowl if you let it be.

Do you drive?

i agree.Im in Bordon and have certainly never experienced the "goldfish bowl" effect. With Bordon being largely SEME theres a pretty constant change over of families so i think that probably helps.The thing to remember is living in MQ doesnt make you a different breed....dont buy in to any of the stereotypes of army wives....its just like any other housing estate. You'll click with some, not with others, you'll meet some people but by no means everyone.....and on a uk posting army life is very much just normal life on a day to day basis as your using all local facilities etc.

GemGemR_2

I have just noticed your thread on married quarters. I am a CDW (Community Development Worker) down in sunny Cornwall. I think you have probably realized by now that the quarters vary greatly in the different areas and it really depends on what you have been used to and what you expect. I don't think many people, even the ones who hate living in quarters, would disagree that even if they need a little TLC at times they are Very cheap. You definitely couldn't rent for less. The other thing is you are surrounded by people in the same situation as you, and will understand how you feel when your husband is away etc. This of course can be a good and a bad thing at times! If you want a bit more info try the Defence Estate website who are the organization who manage the quarters. I am a new user cant put links on this, but if you put defence estates into your search engine it will come up with the site. You can also try rncom (again it wont let me put in the link but put rncom in the search engine and it comes up) which is a community website where service people can discuss issues etc. This is a Navy site but has lots of info that will be the same in all the services and there are some Army families that use it. If not I am sure the Army have an equivalent site, try armycom. Hope this helps

helsee

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Microsite/DE/

is this it, defence estates?

helsee

oh and another thought if your in mq when baby is born you'll probably be able to get things like stair gates from the army free or very low cost, and my friend has also just gotten a cot.

Lottebear

Overall the cost is the things that make is best, off road parking and generally are quite secure areas.

Childern in Army familes have to have a school place.

Why don't you get in touch with one of the other wives and go and have a look around?

Colliefrog

I love living in MQ, our rent/water/CT is only £200 a month! Only thing I hate are the repairs. MHS don't know their @ss from their elbow!

ruthem215

We only pay about £70 a month to live in the house! Dirt cheap, were based at Lyneham, and it is a lovely house, can't complain altho its a little dated, but for the price! The only thing I would say there is bad points and good points obv, and when you have a little one and your husband goes away, its certainly harder to cope. But the savings you make day to day make up for the bad points I think!

Alias_Omega

Renting in married quarters is cheap, but...

...in an ideal world you would own your own house, have it let through an agency and live in quarters for your time in the services, so when you leave the forces, the lump sum from the AFPS 75 pension could be used to clear any outstanding mortgage payments and you can live a happy life.


I remember a RAF Cpl who left the forces at 22 years service back in 2003, he was relying upon his lump sum to use to buy a house. He had lived in quarters all his time in the RAF, and when he left, the lump sum would only cover 40% of the house he was buying. When he joined the forces, houses were cheap so he never thought about not being able to buy a house when he left. Being 42 yrs old with no savings, no kids but married. He would have to take a large mortgage over a further 15-20 years to be able to own his house.

One reason why i bought when i could afford it, and its let whilst we live in quarters too.

Regards,

Alias