Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Quick Housing Update

Lodging (TLF managers) are wonderful. The manager said she KNEW it was going to take us a long time to find a place. She is going to try to work with us regardless of what housing does so that we can stay in TLF, while we look.

For the non-military: We are currently authorized 30 days in TLF (Temp Lodging Facility) on TLA (um....$ for moving so it isn't out of our pocket). Our time is up. We were given a 10 day extension. NOW we have to get them to approve us to stay while we continue to look for an off base house. We've met a Major here in TLF, in our same boat...who found the reg that says that they have to give you 60 days if they don't offer you a home. We talked to housing today and she said that it is not given "for the members convenience". In other words we should take the house as small as on base (which THEY say is inadequate) or it simply a matter of our convenience. Mike is currently writing it all up again and asking for the 60 days. If it is granted, we remain on priority status and are assured that we can stay in TLF until the end of September. If not give we move to Space A, we have to pay for the nights and we could be asked to leave at any time. As I said the manager of lodging has said she will do her best to accommodate us regardless of our status. It IRKS me that HOUSING won't offer us a home on base and now they say we are being picky. Um....

We did look at the gray house by the rice paddy. I loved the location and the neighbors. The house had some strange things. For instance there is no dining room and the bathroom was spread out all over the house. The tub was in the laundry room, the sink was in the master bedroom closet (leaving you with very little closet space for uniforms ::snort::), the toilet was in an alcove off the master bedroom. It was small and depressing....but we would have taken it, if that was all we found.

THEN we went and looked at some new houses being built. There are some due to be done in Sept, some in Oct and some in November. There are 12 houses in this new area due to be finished the end of September. 4 of them are already reserved. They are the same rent as the gray one, they will be NEW and Mike crawled around to check - they'll be insulated! They are 500 sf bigger. They will have heated floors. Ours is right next to horse corrals....they are 20 min from base (though only 3 miles ::snort::), and that is NOT convenient....but they are much more livable. They have 2 1/2 bathrooms AND dining rooms. Housing, of course, wants us to accept the gray one without a door. We were able to walk through the two story and the single story homes being built and there were things I really liked better about the single story, but we voted for the two story. Location.....the ones by the road will have an awesome view of rice paddies and fields....but we opted for the back because there will be room for basketball and bikes...we'll be at the end of the culdesac and the kids will have a bit more freedom outside without me being right there with them. The ones on the other end of the street border the main road. It was a TOUGH choice and we may still change our mind about which house we want. I loved Ms. Koishi. She saw a subdivision closer that was building and told us to call that agent. They wanted Y30,000 yen more a month ($300). She is keeping her houses low. She is allowing us to give her Y225,000 for a deposit (all others we've seen are Y500,000). I really liked her. She knows we are desperate, but did not take advantage of us.

IF they won't allow us to stay here on priority status, I have no idea what we will do until September...but I trust that lodging will try to accommodate us regardless of the status housing awards us. At this point it's not a money thing...if we quit getting TLA we'll get BHA (Basic Housing Allowance) and that will cover the TLF cost....it's the principle of it now. ::snort:: Housing said we could "hope" to remain Priority status but lose our TLA...because waiting until Sept is simply a matter of convenience. Grrr.

20 minutes off base WILL impact how involved we can be in base life. It will impact the activities the kids participate in and how involved we get in chapel life. It means we can't use the base gym without quite a drive. BUT it also means we'll have fast Internet, we'll enjoy living in gorgeous farmland....we'll have a NEW house (never done that before - YIKES)...we'll be in the Oriase area, which is gorgeous.

School - UGH. I think I'll order some things that I know I have in our bags so that we can get started...math, science and some phonics things for Zander. I may even try to find TOG Unit 4 of year 2 book list, so that we can try with the library here to get moving. I hate to BUY all the things that are already here....just because we can't get to them....but the kids are ready for some school.

Our shipments - both hold (unaccompanied which was to be here 9 weeks before everything else) and our normal shipment are waiting. They won't deliver any of it until we have a home. THIS is the PCS story to end all PCS stories. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...