P'Cola Housing

[snizo]

Pensacola is frighteningly close to Alabama and is in the mysterious part of the country known as the 'Central Time Zone' but it also (as you know) has a pretty bad housing shortage right now...

I just got back from house hunting in P'cola and thought I'd let you all know how it went in case you're heading down there soon.

I called maybe 20 places 2 wks before I went down. Not a single place called me back and most wouldn't even take my information. GO DOWN THERE if you can. I only got call backs for places I visited.

I checked out like 25 places down there from right outside the gate to the Governor's Gate area. Of all 10,000 apartments in those complexes there was one apartment available when I was there.

So ... here is what I got out of it...

1. Go down there if you can. I feel for you guys who can't drive down for a few days.

2. Get a friend who is already down there to help you out with some locations.

3. If you are even slightly picky about where you want to live, expect to lose some money. Apartments open up every day and are taken within a few hours. Get on a waiting list or two if you don't find something from the start ... but that means you will probably lose your admin/app fees if you don't wind up taking them. I found one complex that wouldn't cash your checks for a paid waiting list until they knew they would have a place or not, but everywhere else I would have been putting $130-200 on the line.

4. Check out apartmentguide.com and get an "Apartment Finder' book (from almost any complex) once you get down there and check everywhere including the places not listed anywhere that you just drive by.

5. If there are a dozen apartments available in one complex at 10am, don't expect any of them to be avail at 11am.

6. 2 bedroom/2 bath places are easier to find than singles (and sometimes cheaper than singles - so dont count 'em out if you want to live alone).

7. Try not to overhear any SNA's or SNFO's conversations ... coz they are all talking about how they are afraid about getting the axe.

8. Try to get it worked out BEFORE you go down. I saw one poor guy at the BOQ with his U-Haul scrambin to find a place before he started a few days later. Almost every complex has a 30 military notice clause, but that doesn't mean anything. If a notice came in today, it could have been for 2 mos from now or 2 days from now.

I report in a month and had 1 certain and 2 wait list/backup when I left - and that was after a whole lot of looking.

Good luck, guys. I can give you all some more specifics (complex names, etc) if you're interested.

 

[progolfer20]

I ended up going to the housing office on the base and found a house to rent, there are several houses that are available. Unfortunately there are next to no apartments avail.

 

[CUNavy1]

I just got back from P-cola. Apartments are limited, but I found one (Fairfield lakes). There is a brand new apartment complex called the Village. They are a bit pricey, but very nice. They have some two and three bedroom places and they expect to have their one bedroom rooms available in mid March. Most of the complex is still under construction.

 

[Jenmarie]

There is also a complex called Marcus Pointe that is still building, but opens up apartments in stages. I have friends in there now, that have been there for a little while, and more apartments just opened up.

Best of luck to those of you hunting!

 

[peanut3479]

Apartments are opening up as fast as they can be built, and they're being rented 10x as fast, but there are actually houses available for rent now. The best place to start looking is www.pensacolamls.com. Usually what's posted on that site will be rented by the time you call, but the individual realtors/realty offices can give you a list of what's available that's not online yet or what's going to be available soon. For the most part, houses cost about the same or sometimes even slightly less than apartments, but I've got a LOT more space than I'd have in an apartment and I don't have to worry about noisy neighbors.

 

[shortncurly]

There is also a complex called Marcus Pointe that is still building, but opens up apartments in stages.

Yup, that's where we live.... They just opened up a bunch of buildings, with tons still being built. I believe the newest 2 bedroom apartments will be opening up in March.

Good Luck!

 

[snizo]

When I got back from P'cola, I had one gauranteed place (Jasmine Creek) and one waiting list. A few days later, Jasmine Creek called me back to say that I was told wrong for the rent and jacked up the price $50 ... then she gets the nerve to take an atitude with me when I tell her I don't want to live there anymore and want (all of) my money back. Guess she didn't understand why I didn't want to live at a place who didn't mind screwing me...

 

[UncleFester]

Oh, the evil trolls that run Pensacola apts will see you coming a mile away. Don't think for a second that they don't know all the angles on renting to Navy guys. I had quite a few bad experiences, esp since back then Florida didn't have mandatory military clauses, thank God for Jeb Bush. Find a roommate, or better two or three, and go rent a nice big house. You'll find a nicer place, cheaper, with a bigger selection of where to live. Lots of Navy guys have rolled through there in years past, bought houses, and rented them out to students when they moved on. I lived in a "rolling lease" house when I was in API, up north of I-10 about midway between Mainside and Whiting (got Corpus for Primary, natch). There were three of us, and none of our names were on the lease. The owner (an O-4 P-3 guy) didn't care, as long as he got the rent on time. There used to be a "roommates wanted" board in the API building - is that still there? Point is, there are a lot of options. Don't boresight on 1BR/1BA apartments.

 

[hairball26]

I have a house here in pensacola and am looking for a roomate. House is pretty new, about four or five miles from the back gate, and about a mile or two from the perdido key bridge and beaches. Making the full mortgage payment every month is killing me, so I 'd like to rent out one of the rooms. Looking for about $600 a month, and that would include utilities, cable, and high speed wireless i-net. Everything is furnished excet for the room I'm trying to rent. I'm an SNFO and currently sitting around he A-pool. Send me an email at rr@mailsnare.net if you're interested.

 

[snizo]

There used to be a "roommates wanted" board in the API building - is that still there?

The board is but when I was down there (and for about a week before), there wasn't anything on it...

 

[jbelsha53]

I'm actually looking for two roommates for my house, the ones i have are going to be moving out in a couple of months. Anyone who's interested drop me a line

 

[Suprsonicfreedm]

Will anyone be leaving their apartment on the Northeast side of Pensacola somewhere in the neighborhood of late May?

 

[rjack14]

I live at Austinwoods. It takes like 10 mins to get to work. We need another roomie too. Rent is $310.

 

[peanut3479]

I have a house near PNS (almost midway between NAS P-cola & Whiting), and my roommate & I have an extra bedroom available. Rent would be $275 + utils. (probably around $100-125); we have an extremely nice setup - PM me for details.

 

[TransvestFO]

This is great stuff. We always tell studs sitting at the wrong end of the table (with no glass of water) that they can't make it through the process alone. Realize that there is power in numbers, stick together and help your buds coming behind you. Don't be afraid to look up VT-2/3/6/4/10 SDO phone number and talk to the ENS on duty. He/she is just a stud a few months ahead of you. They know the gouge. Use the housing office on base also. Good luck. Push through, we need you at the pointy end.