I am still in disbelief from the whole ordeal, but I received a call from Lincoln Housing today that when we move to Pendleton my husband and I only rate a 1 bedroom in Serra Mesa and have to get rid of one of our dogs! Shocking, since I consider my two loving poochies like family members!!! I can't believe they tell you to do that! We did not apply for Serra Mesa for the simple fact it only allowed 1 dog. Has this happened to anyone else? Do you have any advice on what we should do? Thanks a million for the help! 

Serra Mesa is absolute nasty hole that I wouldn't set foot in. You don't want to live there. You wouldn't even have washer/dryer hookups in the unit, they have a laundry facility.

Start looking in town, (Oceanside or Fallbrook) you might get lucky and find a house for under BAH with the summer move season in full swing. 

Thank you for the info! 

Dramatic much?

"They" don't want you to get rid of one of your dogs, you were told what your husband rates based on rank and what is available.

If it doesn't suit your needs, then your husband can let housing know and get put on a wait list or you can look out in town. 

if you want to live on base and your husband is a e1-e3 i recommend trying to get into south mesa 2. otherwise, i would live off base and wait to move on till your husband picks up as an nco 

South Mesa 2 housing is 2bdrm qualified. So i doubt theyll let you in there if you only rate 1bdrm. 

I have a few friends who live off-base and they seem comfortable. I wouldn't be because I am not used to Cali at all and feel better being "sheltered" on-base.
I get it that you feel your dogs are family, but sadly they will never be equal to humans. I don't say that with disdain. I truly sympathize in your situation, my aunt is the same way and I felt bad for her that she couldn't vacation the same as she always did because she had her dog with her and it was a little harder to find a hotel that would accept pets. This is the same thing, honey...except it's more permanent. 

What sucks is one base will say they qualify for two bedrooms and everyone is allowed two pets, but another base reduces what they can have....and the BAH for the reduced quarters is higher!

Serra Mesa was a dump 20 years ago, there's absolutely no reason to even be using it now with HUNDREDS of empty homes on base. It would make great geo-quarters if they cleaned it up some more, but for what a E-4 and below family gets in BAH out here, I pay less for my mortgage on a newer 4 bedroom house.

Pets never stopped us from vacationing/traveling/PCS anywhere. They either went with, or we hire a dogsitter. 

..and the BAH for the reduced quarters is higher!


Serra Mesa is a concession district and get $600 back every month of BAH. 

Really?? They get $600 now? I was living there and they got $500 back and when we moved they said there was talk it might go down and possibly not even get it every month. I knew we should have stayed longer. It really wasn't bad just had a huge lack of space. 

$600 off for one-bedroom in Serra Mesa
$500 off for two bedrooms in Serra Mesa.

If you don't have kids it's not worth it to live on base just yet, heck, even if you have one kid unless on-base housing near your husband's work makes a difference in gas. 

I know it may be worth the price getting housing off base but I'm not ready to face the "real" California...and I've been here for 3 years. Social anxiety, lol! yeah, maybe. It just isn't home and I'm afraid of pissing someone off by calling their state "fake". 

Ani where are you from? 

I'm from Maine. The only choices we had was here or Lejueine and it wasn't good there. Couldn't find any safe housing at the time. 

You should see more of the state before saying its fake. And honestly you picked to live on base so you shouldn't complain about it. People on base can get just as upset as off base. 

Base being safer is just a perception. PMO sends out a daily blotter to the units, but unless you have access to it, you really have no clue about all the stuff that DOES happen on base.

The state itself isn't fake, HOA's with manicured lawns etc are everywhere nowadays.( Better than living next door to a lazy person that never mows the yard and it looks like crap). I'm 30 miles from base, the people out here are just normal families with mortgages, jobs and worrying about schools and quality of life. Which is pretty awesome btw, with not having to hibernate all winter or sweat all summer ;-) 

Yes Ani you should take a drive to temecula it's great out here!! 

Last day to go pick blueberries at the u-pick farm! 

I think someone watched too much TV and sees the Anna Nicoles and Paris Hiltons and such to think it's all fake. The people out here are no different than anywhere else, some are awesome, some suck. I like living on base as far as liking offset neighborhood and a sense of a subdivision like I had growing up. Other than that, I want to be off base. There is stuff to do, people to see, stores to shop etc. The state of California is HUGE.

Lejeune has plenty of safe housing... I think youre overly sheltered. 

Yeah, I know I should go up north out of the desert. I miss the uncultivated wildlife. And I didn't mean the people. I love people. I love diversity and variable religions and races and cultures....love that! I would love to live in New York for that! The only thing real to me around here is the ocean. Untamed and mostly untouched.