Posted: 2/15/2010 12:58:12 PM EDT
| If your rent, utilities, and renters insurance is less then your basic housing allowance do you get to keep the difference ? |
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If your rent, utilities, and renters insurance is less then your basic housing allowance do you get to keep the difference ? Assuming you're off post? Yes...it's just added to your paycheck. On post...no...they take the whole thing. (post housing does that is...) |
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not sure. i know my buddy makes a little extra after the rent is paid. also, he makes a killing renting out rooms from the house that he rents with his bah.
personally, i wouldn't do something like that. however, the uncle sugar keeps on cutting that check without thinking why a single guy needs to rent a frickin' house. |
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Quoted: not sure. i know my buddy makes a little extra after the rent is paid. also, he makes a killing renting out rooms from the house that he rents with his bah. personally, i wouldn't do something like that. however, the uncle sugar keeps on cutting that check without thinking why a single guy needs to rent a frickin' house. Given that or on-post-housing that welfare recipients would reject... It's obvious what choice to make... P.S. Out here around Lewis, BAH will pay a mortgage payment (rent is still higher per month than mortgage+taxes+insurance).... |
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Quoted:
not sure. i know my buddy makes a little extra after the rent is paid. also, he makes a killing renting out rooms from the house that he rents with his bah. personally, i wouldn't do something like that. however, the uncle sugar keeps on cutting that check without thinking why a single guy needs to rent a frickin' house. It is based on number of dependents, rank, and availibility of space in the barracks. No matter what rank he is, if he has a wife and/or children (that he has at least shared custody of) he is entitled to BAH at the "with dependent" rate. If he is single and E-6 or above, he is entitled to BAH at the "single" rate. If he is E-5 or below and single and the barracks are full, he can get a statement of nonavailability and draw BAH at the single rate and be authorized to live off-post. If you draw BAH and live in on-post housing, the housing authority takes all of your BAH, which covers your rent, electricity, water, and usually garbage pickup and lawn care. Sometimes it is a good deal, sometimes it is not. It depends on how big of a house you want and how much said house/apartment costs off post. That being said, there is a rumor going around the shop here that they are going to start having an allotment for electricity and water, and if you go over that allotment you have to pay the difference out of pocket. (on post housing) |
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That being said, there is a rumor going around the shop here that they are going to start having an allotment for electricity and water, and if you go over that allotment you have to pay the difference out of pocket. (on post housing) They started doing that in Hawaii about 2 years ago and just recently started it at Fort Lewis. |
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Yup. Didn't always used to be that way though. I think they changed it in the late '90s, early 2000s. ?? Was like that the first time I moved off base in 1987, I was paying $260 a month rent and I was getting $320 for BAQ/VHA. The only time you didn't collect full BAQ/VHA is if you were living with another military member (married or room mates), then only one of you could collect full BAQ/VHA and the other collected a reduced amount. Not sure if BAH is still like that today for room mates, it's still like that for married people, one collects at married with dependents rate, the other collects at the single rate. |
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Quoted: Some posts have switched over to civilian/contractor housing and offer less than BAH on post housing as an incentive. Quoted: If your rent, utilities, and renters insurance is less then your basic housing allowance do you get to keep the difference ? Assuming you're off post? Yes...it's just added to your paycheck. On post...no...they take the whole thing. (post housing does that is...) |
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Quoted: Quoted: Yup. Didn't always used to be that way though. I think they changed it in the late '90s, early 2000s. ?? Was like that the first time I moved off base in 1987, I was paying $260 a month rent and I was getting $320 for BAQ/VHA. The only time you didn't collect full BAQ/VHA is if you were living with another military member (married or room mates), then only one of you could collect full BAQ/VHA and the other collected a reduced amount. Not sure if BAH is still like that today for room mates, it's still like that for married people, one collects at married with dependents rate, the other collects at the single rate. I'm under the impression that roommates get full BAH. Not too bad when BAH is $900 and your share of the rent is $500... For married BAH only the senior soldier in the relationship gets BAH with dependents. |
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Some posts have switched over to civilian/contractor housing and offer less than BAH on post housing as an incentive.
Quoted:
If your rent, utilities, and renters insurance is less then your basic housing allowance do you get to keep the difference ? Assuming you're off post? Yes...it's just added to your paycheck. On post...no...they take the whole thing. (post housing does that is...) Pretty recent then...as of '08...they still took full BAH, even with private housing. The biggest thing is the "average utilities"...if you go over it, you pay a little extra. Glad to see they're using common sense and not taking the full BAH any more. That's what pushed us off post. The lower officer housing isn't all that bad...but I could get a nicer place and not pay my full BAH off post. God I miss BAH...that's a nice perk. |
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not sure. i know my buddy makes a little extra after the rent is paid. also, he makes a killing renting out rooms from the house that he rents with his bah. personally, i wouldn't do something like that. however, the uncle sugar keeps on cutting that check without thinking why a single guy needs to rent a frickin' house. It is interesting. The house I own has a mortgage that BAH doesn't cover. They reduced BAH by $60 this year. If I sell my home it is likely that, even in rural KY, I will lose 30% of the value. I would accept that if I could get into a house that was much better, but losing that much means I don't make anything selling the house (100% mortgage). So we are stuck here for the foreseeable future. Unless the wife goes back to work, which we don't want to happen right now. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Yup. Didn't always used to be that way though. I think they changed it in the late '90s, early 2000s. ?? Was like that the first time I moved off base in 1987, I was paying $260 a month rent and I was getting $320 for BAQ/VHA. The only time you didn't collect full BAQ/VHA is if you were living with another military member (married or room mates), then only one of you could collect full BAQ/VHA and the other collected a reduced amount. Not sure if BAH is still like that today for room mates, it's still like that for married people, one collects at married with dependents rate, the other collects at the single rate. That must be what I was thinking. I lived with two other Lieutenants so we got screwed on our BAH. Then they changed it and you got your full amount even if you had military roommates (unless you were married, like you mentioned.) |
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Quoted: Quoted: Yup. Didn't always used to be that way though. I think they changed it in the late '90s, early 2000s. ?? Was like that the first time I moved off base in 1987, I was paying $260 a month rent and I was getting $320 for BAQ/VHA. The only time you didn't collect full BAQ/VHA is if you were living with another military member (married or room mates), then only one of you could collect full BAQ/VHA and the other collected a reduced amount. Not sure if BAH is still like that today for room mates, it's still like that for married people, one collects at married with dependents rate, the other collects at the single rate. I asked finance about this when we got hitched and filed all the paperwork. They said that in the DoD's eyes, with no children, neither one of us is a dependent so neither one of us is entitled to dependent rate BAH. We're still making out like bandits, so I don't mind...  ETA: This is how it works for active duty Air Force. I'd assume that BAH allowances are DoD controlled, so it would be the same across all the services, but I'm not sure. YMMV. |
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not sure. i know my buddy makes a little extra after the rent is paid. also, he makes a killing renting out rooms from the house that he rents with his bah. personally, i wouldn't do something like that. however, the uncle sugar keeps on cutting that check without thinking why a single guy needs to rent a frickin' house. It is based on number of dependents, rank, and availibility of space in the barracks. No matter what rank he is, if he has a wife and/or children (that he has at least shared custody of) he is entitled to BAH at the "with dependent" rate. If he is single and E-6 or above, he is entitled to BAH at the "single" rate. If he is E-5 or below and single and the barracks are full, he can get a statement of nonavailability and draw BAH at the single rate and be authorized to live off-post. If you draw BAH and live in on-post housing, the housing authority takes all of your BAH, which covers your rent, electricity, water, and usually garbage pickup and lawn care. Sometimes it is a good deal, sometimes it is not. It depends on how big of a house you want and how much said house/apartment costs off post. That being said, there is a rumor going around the shop here that they are going to start having an allotment for electricity and water, and if you go over that allotment you have to pay the difference out of pocket. (on post housing) Doesn't always work that way. I've seen E4s get BAH with empty barracks. It was the norm on my base. |
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Quoted: I'm under the impression that roommates get full BAH. Not too bad when BAH is $900 and your share of the rent is $500... For married BAH only the senior soldier in the relationship gets BAH with dependents. At least for the Navy in 01-03 that was the common thought but the Regs allowed for both service members to collect single BAH if they were both otherwise entitled to it. My wife an I were both E5's in 01 and had to fight to each keep our single BAH when we got married. My wife found the Reg although I couldn't tell you what it is now. |
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not sure. i know my buddy makes a little extra after the rent is paid. also, he makes a killing renting out rooms from the house that he rents with his bah. personally, i wouldn't do something like that. however, the uncle sugar keeps on cutting that check without thinking why a single guy needs to rent a frickin' house. It is based on number of dependents, rank, and availibility of space in the barracks. No matter what rank he is, if he has a wife and/or children (that he has at least shared custody of) he is entitled to BAH at the "with dependent" rate. If he is single and E-6 or above, he is entitled to BAH at the "single" rate. If he is E-5 or below and single and the barracks are full, he can get a statement of nonavailability and draw BAH at the single rate and be authorized to live off-post. If you draw BAH and live in on-post housing, the housing authority takes all of your BAH, which covers your rent, electricity, water, and usually garbage pickup and lawn care. Sometimes it is a good deal, sometimes it is not. It depends on how big of a house you want and how much said house/apartment costs off post. That being said, there is a rumor going around the shop here that they are going to start having an allotment for electricity and water, and if you go over that allotment you have to pay the difference out of pocket. (on post housing) Doesn't always work that way. I've seen E4s get BAH with empty barracks. It was the norm on my base. That is why I said "E-5 or below" and "statement of nonavailibility". |