Marine wives living on Camp Pendleton?

Question

My Marine fiance & I will be getting married next month & we're going to try to get housing on base at Camp Pendleton, since that's where he'll be stationed.

Does anyone know how to go through the process of getting housing? Do you have to be married before you can get on the housing list? How much does it cost to live on base vs. living off base? Any information will be helpful.

Answer 1

Well i'm a Marine husband living on Camp Pendleton and i say live OFF base because one thing is there is no A/C on base housing and can get hot which is annoying and you have to go outside to use washers and dryers (which are free, but can take along time to wash clothes). When i look back on it i wish i lived off base because your BAH pays for the rent so no worries there. The link below has these great apartment that have A/C and some have washers and dryers the rent isnt that expensive either so your BAH will cover it and its not far from the base either have your husband check it out before you look for on base housing...oh and the rent listed on the website is actually lower than it really says...hope it helps

Answer 2

We were stationed on Camp Pendleton up until last month. We have lived on base housing at each base that we were stationed at. You do have to be married before you can get on the base housing list. BAH comes out of the service members pay so you really won't even see it or worry about having to hand over the rent each month yourself. Every time that we waited for base housing and had to live "out in town" we ended up paying out of pocket for rent as well as utilities, granted we have two children and now a dog. Seeing that you will be newly married you may be able to find a place that is in your bah range.

I personally enjoy living on base. When my hubby deployed I was surrounded by other wives for support. The only services that we had to pay for monthly was cable and phone. Plus our housing area was nice :-) We lived in the San Onofre area near the beach.

The housing area was going through a lot of nice up grades over this summer too.Congrats on the upcoming marriage and good luck!

Answer 3

On base  housing is payed for and when you live off base you receive BAH(basic allowance for housing) which is a set amount for the zip code where you are stationed. And yes you must be married before being placed on the list.

Answer 4

i used to live on camp pendleton base housing about 1 1/2 yrs ago but we moved off base. living on base is totally not worth it.

depending on what rank your husband is pretty much determines the quality of the housing you will be staying in (unless you know people who will help you)

my husband was a l.cpl when we got married. we were given two basing options. serra mesa or stuart mesa. if we chose stuart mesa we would have to wait an additional 1-2 months which we just couldnt do because we didnt have anywhere to put our stuff. and you can only apply for housing when you are officially married so its not like we could have been on the waiting list anyways. so we chose serra mesa and moved in right away. these apartments are so tiny!! (if you get a one bedroom.) no air conditioning...no pets, the military police are alwayyyyys there, ect.

well i guess they are not that bad but i personally like living off base. plus you save more money.

your BHS should currently be 1400$ so when you live on base, housing takes all of that, but you do get to do your laundry for free and you dont have to pay for water or electricity ( but if you get serra mesa they ARE NASTY!! [the washer and dryers] i swear...i found chunks of god knows what in one one time and they bearly wash ur clothes right) if you get another housing, youll have to supply yourself with your own wash/dryer

anyways, BUT if you move off base. you can easily find an apt for $1100 max...pay what..about 70$ for electricity and water and maybe 30$ a month for laundry saving you about 200$ if you move off base.

lol...im just trying to save another person from regretting rfom moving on base..

ANYWAY, your husband will know where he needs to go for housing. he actually has to go and do it.. so you probably wont have it done until both of you are back in california which might or might not mean some waiting. me and my husband had to stay in a hotel for a day or two and luckily out friends let us stay at their house for the rest of the time we needed.

i like living off base as welll becasue i go to school and we live at these apts that are less than 1/3 of a mile away from a college. works when you only have 1 car

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