F-Body Europe

I am wondering how much you guys are paying for rent. I was told it changes due to the exchange rate(?). (I'm still stateside untill late April-May for when I PCS.) Oh I would be talking about like a 1 bedroom place, I don't need anything more than that I guess. It will just be me and the wife. Any ideas or help? Thanks guys... I can't wait to get out of here!

For rent you do not need to worry about the exchange rate....too much. It is different than stateside. The military pays your rent up to your cap in Euros. If you stay under your cap then you do not get to keep any excess (like stateside). So, your best bet here is to find the best place that works for you under your cap. It will then be paid for.

Aforewarning about 1 beds......housing is a little different than you are probably used to. 1 beds can get VERY small. They can be in odd places...like over a business. Parking can be a major concern because a lot of places have on-street parking. There are also VERY few closets in any house. Both places we have had had none. That means some of your floor space will be occupied with shrunks (closets).

There are a lot a very good places within your cap.

So then should I look for a 2 room place or... what? I definately don't want to end up like that. So BAH doesn't work like it does here? Here you get it and pay whatever but there they pay it for you and you don't keep (if any) excess? Wow this Euro stuff is confusing...

Thats correct. You get whatever your rent is...up to your cap. I would definitely try to max out your cap and plan for a bedroom to use for storage/clothing at least.

FYI- Typically German houses have more, but smaller rooms. So you may see houses with 8 bedrooms.

Darn... I was hoping to put some money back, but since I can't I might as well max it out (like you say). Is it expensive for water/electricity/etc?

What is your rank again? You'll have no problem finding a place. You don't get to keep the excess but you do get COLA so it balances out in the end so to speak. OK I'm lieing...you'll do better here than stateside as long as you don't do a lot of shopping off base as the $ is getting butt phucked.

Make sure you find a place w/ a garage.

Water and elect is paid ever other month and it's based off of what you use and from there they'll bill you for the year. The only downside to that is if the previous tenant racked up the utilities yours for that yr will be jacked up but come end of the year you'll get a return for the difference you didn't use. That's cool as chit IMO. Every yr I've used less than the previous yr and get a refund...sometimes a little sometimes a lot.

Well thats cool and kind of neat I guess. The way things are ran there will take some getting use too. I'm a SRA (E-4) for now. I've only been in 4.5 yrs and this will be my first assignment.

Note to self: Look for a place w/ more then 1 room and a garage for the TA. ***

... and a beater for the winter ...

Just FYI that area is cheap.

3br/2ba 2car garage(RARE) and about .5 acre EVERYTHING included(RARER) $2000 a month.

wow thats surprising. But is that 2000 in euro's or us dollar? If its the dollar thats way more then what I pay now. I was talking to a guy the other day and he said that my oha (housing allowance) won't be near that high (2000). Hmm....??

Its very hard to find the following:
A single house
A single house with a garage
Apartments are everywhere but nothing like in the states. Whole new world. No closets usually. Garages are usually very small and rooms and not huge. If you look hard you can find what will make you happy but you have to be persistant and catch new listings everyday. Once you get here people will help you and show you the ropes. Dont worry yourself about it too much right now.

Cap for you is around 1100 Euro's right now with a wife, and that's about 1800-2000 bucks with the exchange rate.

ok...

Housing allowance isn't like stateside where you can pocket what's not spent right?

no its not. utilities is where you have the opportunity to make your money. too much to type to explain just make sure you have utilities included in your rent except electricity and you will make good money.

okay I will try to remember that.