Cost isn’t the only factor squeezing JBLM soldiers looking for housing in tight market
Availability, not affordability, is the main issue facing military families looking for housing in Pierce County, according to a new survey by the South Sound Military Community Partnership.
The U.S. Department of the Army’s goal is for soldiers to live within 30 minutes of their station, but traffic congestion and higher cost-of-living mean many service members and their families live far outside a 30-minute travel area.
Of the 333 service members surveyed, just 65% said they live within a 30-minute commute to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The most popular communities among respondents were Lacey, DuPont, Lakewood, Parkland and Spanaway.
Of those surveyed, 74% said they rent their housing, rather than own, but the type of housing service members rent is split evenly between apartments and single-family homes.
While 85% of those surveyed said it was important to them to keep housing costs within their Basic Allowance for Housing, the majority said they spend between $250 and $500 more than their BAH. The BAH is meant to cover about 95% of service member’s housing costs.
Heather Redal, a military relocation specialist and Realtor at Windermere Real Estate, said many military families looking to purchase homes in Pierce or Thurston counties are frustrated by the increasingly competitive and low-inventory real estate market. She said most service members at JBLM have a BAH between $1,800 and $2,200 per month.
“They’ve all heard that the market here is good to buy in, but people don’t realize it takes almost 40 days to close on a loan,” Redal said. “So they get to JBLM and then start looking for a home and are stuck in a hotel for over a month while they wait.”
According to Redal, the most popular area for service members would be DuPont; however, it’s too difficult for most buyers to find housing there. She said on the off-chance a house in DuPont does go on the market, it instantly will have 10 offers.
Redal said military families have to be especially patient because of intense bidding wars between buyers.
“The inventory in this market is so extremely low that you have to have five or six thousand dollars saved to pay closing costs in order to be competitive,” Redal said. “I’ve had families get outbid on six different properties before they finally win a seventh.”
According to the survey, service members have an average of 10 days to secure housing when they get to JBLM, which causes many to rush into a housing choice or spend extra to stay in short-term housing when they need more time. Just 6% of service members said they were able to find housing within a week of arriving at JBLM; 38% said it took over a month to locate housing.
The difficulties in finding appropriate housing get harder if the service member has a pet.
Elizabeth Wilson, chief of the housing division on JBLM, said Washington doesn’t seem to be a pet friendly state when it comes to rental properties.
“Probably 40% of families who come to JBLM have pets,” Wilson said. “Not only is it hard to find a property that allows pets but often there’s a weight requirement, a pet deposit and pet rent on top of everything else.”
Redal said she often tells military families to keep their homes even after they leave for another duty station and encourages them to rent the property to incoming families.
“If you want to rent your property and it’s pet friendly, you will find a renter without a problem,” Redal said.
The South Sound Military Community Partnership estimates there will need to be 113,000 new housing units in the study area between now and 2040 to keep up with population growth.
One of the major recommendations of the study is to reactivate JBLM’s rental partnership program. The program is meant to help service members by connecting them with properties that have negotiated a lower cost in exchange for marketing to service members and direct rental payments.
The RPP program was paused in June 2020 due to staffing shortages. Wilson said JBLM is in the process of restarting the program with three new staff members around March or April 2021.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Cost isn’t the only factor squeezing JBLM soldiers looking for housing in tight market."
