The base requires any military member living off base to go through a real estate agent. Your real estate agent is the go between between you and base housing. They will be the ones to vouch for you when you have payed your rent etc. The housing office will have to come and inspect your living quarters before you are approved and you can get an advance in pay for rent and deposit money.
There are manny real estate agents near the base that are very willing to help with housing arrangements. All it takes to find a real estate agent is to walk a few hundred yards off base. Two of the agents right off base are Happy Realty and Korea Realty. Manny of the apartments are furnished. My husband did some searching and found that utilities were often included in the rent which, for an E5 Airman, means an extra $700 a month. This number will fluctuate as the utility allowance is based on an average of what people pay for utilities in this region. Know that if you have to pay utilities they are based on increments not paid by kilowatt hour like here in the USA. So, for instance you may pay 200KW for you first increment of electricity but, if you go over your allotted increment your next increment will be double that price so, you automatically pay 4000KW regardless of weather or not you have used that increment or not. From there it doubles again so, 800KW and it continues to double. None the less, your bill can get quite expensive!
Make sure to tell your real estate agent what you need. If you see something missing that you feel will make you more comfortable ask and they can often negotiate prices.
Also, if you live off base make sure to stock water and canned goods. During monsoon season the power can go out or the water turned off. During the winter pipes can freeze so, water won't be available. Also routine cleanings of the pipes will cause the water to get shut off. When the pipes are being cleaned it takes about 6 hours for the water to come back on again.
What of schooling for Non CS! Are there other schools besides DOD in Yongsan??
ReplyDeleteI will look into that. Thank you for your question
ReplyDeleteThe Yongsan International School
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nicerent.com/mn_usefulinfo/yongsan_international_school_seoul_south_korea.asp
We had friends that went non CS and there son went to the DOD school
ReplyDeleteI am just so afraid to do this because I dont want to have issues with the kids in the schools!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of problems are you worried about? That they won't get in? Non CS kids get into the DOD based on space available but, they are working on getting more slots. If you can't get them in there then you can get them into the international school. I went to an international school when I was in high school and LOVED it... if you don't like those two options you could consider home school?
ReplyDelete