We've basically hit the end of the planning road. But one thing sat looming above us: Planning our final walk through for government housing on post.
Last month, we scheduled our initial housing inspection. Ya know, the one that takes place about 30 days before you plan to hand over the keys. At the initial inspection they tell you what to fix and clean so that you can move out seamlessly, without owing anything.
Knowing we fly out in the beginning of August, we went ahead and scheduled the initial inspection for the end of June, giving us some leeway to plan for the final walk through later. I didn't want to schedule the first inspection too late because it must be done at least 30 days prior to handing in keys.
Yesterday we stumbled into housing on a whim after turning in our last VAT form at the office down the road. Woohoo! Yeah, you've gotta turn those in before moving because you will have to clear the VAT/Tax relief office during out processing...but that's a different post that I'll write later.
So, housing office. We go in, take a number, and get called back.
The lady is super nice (don't remember her name, but she has tats galore and unicorns all over her desk). She whips out our 'file', and says "Okay, what are ya here for?"
We explain that we weren't sure how or when to schedule the final walkthrough/inspection; the day we turn over the house keys.
She says: "You schedule that here."
***We were told by one person that you can schedule it while doing the initial inspection. Housing lady says that is not true.
My husband and I both pull out our phones and look at our calendars that are riddled with moving stuff all over the place. I point to a week before our fly date and say "Something in this time frame works."
She says "That's not how it works, sorry".
Note:
Final out; army language verb.
When the sponsor/soldier has 100% cleared post & out-processing.
At this point, the soldier is in limbo between duty stations. The losing unit no longer has anything to do with the soldier. The gaining unit is awaiting the soldier. Savvy?
So, this is how it actually works:
You can schedule your last housing inspection/walk through before you even have your initial walk through done, but you must have your flight date, and for a reason.
The army bases your final "final out" date on your flight in so many ways (technically, the final out date is based on your DEROS, which your flight is based on).
This isn't always the case, but for most it is.
I'll put it like this, without giving away our dates for OPSEC reasons:
We fly on a Tuesday.
I thought we could schedule our final house inspection date for a week before: The prior Tuesday.
Nope.
Here in Graf/Vilseck, the soldier will 99.9% of the time "final out" in the late afternoon of any given date. But that given date will be no sooner than three business days before your flight date. Generally, it is two business days before. It depends on local national holidays and American holidays as well as long training weekends, too.
According to the calendar, my husband's final out date (because of our flight date) will be Thursday afternoon, just a few days before we fly.
Housing goes off of this final out date. They will not clear your house or let you schedule your final housing inspection any sooner than the morning that the soldier will final out.
This kinda sucks for some people who are not exactly the definition of great housekeepers. We've met a few folks that had to have their orders amended, flights changed, etc, all because they failed the final housing inspection. Housing can be what stops you from leaving this place on time. No joke.
We went ahead and scheduled our final inspection for that Thursday morning, knowing we'd have to adjust our hotel reservations on this side, which is okay. But...if I would've known that we don't really get a choice in the matter of a final housing inspection date, I don't think I would've scheduled our movers to come on July 17&18. I might have pushed it forward a week or so.
The housing lady officially scheduled our inspection date, then gave us the TLA sheet for our hotel to stamp and sign for reimbursement purposes later, and that was that.
From there, we went to the hotel and adjusted our check-in date, reserving it for the day before we hand in keys until our flight date.
Personally, I don't like living in a house the day of a final walk through. I'm always afraid the kids will leave toothpaste in the sinks or something will spill on my clean floors. Here they encourage you to book/reserve your stay for the night before anyway, that way you won't have a a last minute cleaning surge or a car to stuff luggage into on the morning of the inspection.
Housing coordinates with the hotel and finance. Because it is documented that our final housing inspection is on XX day, our hotel stay will be reimbursed from the day before we hand in keys until our flight, no questions asked.
The reason for this post is to inform others that you don't really get a choice of your final inspection date for housing, unlike we were told and thought.
Regardless, if you live in on-post government quarters, your final inspection will take place no sooner than the day before you final out & clear post. Like I said, for the majority, the final inspection will be on the same date the soldier turns in clearing papers.
I know that all sounds crazy confusing...and it kind of is! But that's half the fun of moving, right?
Next post: We'll see where the wind blows!
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