We got an interesting email from our Realtor today about one of the houses we saw Saturday. It was the first one we saw, and we fell in love, but the landlord and ourselves were off a bit on pricing. Today, the landlord had his Realtor call ours and offer us the terms we originally asked for. Since we hadn't actually formally done anything with the other house we were looking at (applications, contracts,etc), changing our minds isn't huge on that end, but it still took a lot of debate and back and forth time before making the decision. The house is further from Adam's work, but closer to the beach.....like walking distance close. It has a banana tree, is in a quiet area, and you can see the ocean from the porch.
I'm pretty sure it's the only time in our lives we'll be able to live this close to the beach, may as well take advantage! :)!
We were hoping to get to another beach today, but the baby is tired and crabby after being miserable with a fever from shots yesterday. So, we hung around the house. The kids did get to go to the playground though and we got to meet Francia and her 5 children. She was very sweet, and the kids had fun playing with hers. She is originally from Saipan, and is giving me lots of pointers about visiting there in the future. Very sad that she and her family are moving back to the states just as we're getting here. I am glad to know that we're not the only crazy people in the military with a big family here though!
Showing posts with label guam housing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label guam housing. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Busy few days
Saturday and today we went out with our Realtor (who for the record is amazing) and looked at rental homes in the area. (more on the house situation later) That night we went to a Guam food festival downtown. It was a beautiful evening, and gave us a chance to try some local island style BBQ (pork, chicken and squid) and sausage. It was delicious!
They also had a Whopper eating contest sponsered by Burger King, a best burger on island contest (didn't try it, too preoccupied with foods I can't get anywhere else), and a local fruit and vegetable stand. Finished up the night with calamansi juice and headed home.
Sunday we went to church and then took the kids to go see "The Lorax". It was a cute movie, and the kids appreciated the change of pace.
Since Sunday, storm clouds (that are now part of the newly formed tropical storm) have kept us from doing too much exploring outside.
We've had plenty to do otherwise though. Yesterday we registered the kids at medical. Medical here, I have to say, is much more customer service oriented than I've seen in a long time. It may be an old building (they are building a new one), but the care and concern among the staff for the patients is huge! I had a Commander stop us and give us a positive comment on the size of our family too (not the normal smart remarks I get). Bonus for the visit: The lady who set our records up is a local, and after talking she realized that I have a genuine interest in her island and the local food, and gave me a few pointers on places to go!
After medical we hit another Payless market, this time in the Agana Shopping Center. The center as a whole is a smallish mall, but has what appear to be cute little shops, and there's a "Tokyo Market" with quite a few of the food things I came to love while in Japan. The Payless there is a bit larger than the last one we went to, so of course we had to spend some time figuring out all the things they had there for sale.
Today it was back to medical for Levi's 6 month shots (I found out they require an MMR by 6 months here unlike12 months in the states) and an appointment for the younger girl before heading out to look at more houses with our Realtor.
We've seen quite a few homes over the last few days and finally selected and put a rental offer in on a house today. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an ocean view but we'll never find a place that has everything we want, even in the 3 bedroom range.The one place we found with the view we liked had no way to enjoy it (a porch or big windows that faced it) which made the view a bit pointless. Village choice and area is what won out, and given the 5 kids probably one of the more important factors. If we get it, there is more than enough room for guests, which is another big upcheck! Now, we just have to wait on the reply, get housing to approve the lease, etc. etc. Fingers crossed it all goes well!
They also had a Whopper eating contest sponsered by Burger King, a best burger on island contest (didn't try it, too preoccupied with foods I can't get anywhere else), and a local fruit and vegetable stand. Finished up the night with calamansi juice and headed home.
Sunday we went to church and then took the kids to go see "The Lorax". It was a cute movie, and the kids appreciated the change of pace.
Since Sunday, storm clouds (that are now part of the newly formed tropical storm) have kept us from doing too much exploring outside.
 |
| our "view" of the Solar eclipse |
We've had plenty to do otherwise though. Yesterday we registered the kids at medical. Medical here, I have to say, is much more customer service oriented than I've seen in a long time. It may be an old building (they are building a new one), but the care and concern among the staff for the patients is huge! I had a Commander stop us and give us a positive comment on the size of our family too (not the normal smart remarks I get). Bonus for the visit: The lady who set our records up is a local, and after talking she realized that I have a genuine interest in her island and the local food, and gave me a few pointers on places to go!
After medical we hit another Payless market, this time in the Agana Shopping Center. The center as a whole is a smallish mall, but has what appear to be cute little shops, and there's a "Tokyo Market" with quite a few of the food things I came to love while in Japan. The Payless there is a bit larger than the last one we went to, so of course we had to spend some time figuring out all the things they had there for sale.
Today it was back to medical for Levi's 6 month shots (I found out they require an MMR by 6 months here unlike12 months in the states) and an appointment for the younger girl before heading out to look at more houses with our Realtor.
We've seen quite a few homes over the last few days and finally selected and put a rental offer in on a house today. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an ocean view but we'll never find a place that has everything we want, even in the 3 bedroom range.The one place we found with the view we liked had no way to enjoy it (a porch or big windows that faced it) which made the view a bit pointless. Village choice and area is what won out, and given the 5 kids probably one of the more important factors. If we get it, there is more than enough room for guests, which is another big upcheck! Now, we just have to wait on the reply, get housing to approve the lease, etc. etc. Fingers crossed it all goes well!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Apartment hunting: take 2
After today, I feel a little better about the month to month possibilities than yesterday. The first place we saw only has 2 bedroom units, but has amazing views, sweet staff and was recently renovated. Since Adam heads back to Hawaii in a bit over a week, I can just sleep on the couch and let the kids split the rooms until we move into Navy housing. The next place we found on our own by just driving around. It's a bit of a hike from the Navy base so I'm not sure it would work long term, but they had very reasonable 3 and 4 bedroom units with wonderful views of the Pacific and more than enough room for us. If they were a bit closer, I'd probably consider signing a 3 year lease.
Beyond house hunting, we explored a bit (of course). On today's list was the Air Force Base at the northern end of the island. The first place we tried to find was Tarague beach, so we could have a picnic lunch with the kids. I had no idea how high the elevation was where we were at until we rounded a corner on the way to the beach and saw this:
It was breathtaking. After lunch we explored the beach a little bit. The kids loved searching the tide pools for sea life and climbing around on the rocks. They wanted to get in the water, but water entry is restricted to certain areas there because of current concerns....and I didn't bring their swimsuits (note to self: buy an extra set of swimsuits and keep them in the car).
My one gripe about the base there is that unlike all the other AF bases I've been on, there's no clear signs showing how to get to the commissary and exchange (though the beach was clearly defined). We spent a lot of time trying to figure out where anything was. We did eventually find everything though, and realized that the commissary there is way bigger than the Navy one, but their housing isn't quite as nice as the Navy side (except for the O-4 and above housing. Holy cow the views there are AMAZING).
Tomorrow we start to look at houses. We'll see how it goes!
Beyond house hunting, we explored a bit (of course). On today's list was the Air Force Base at the northern end of the island. The first place we tried to find was Tarague beach, so we could have a picnic lunch with the kids. I had no idea how high the elevation was where we were at until we rounded a corner on the way to the beach and saw this:
It was breathtaking. After lunch we explored the beach a little bit. The kids loved searching the tide pools for sea life and climbing around on the rocks. They wanted to get in the water, but water entry is restricted to certain areas there because of current concerns....and I didn't bring their swimsuits (note to self: buy an extra set of swimsuits and keep them in the car).
 |
| Where the waves are breaking in the background is where the reef is. |
My one gripe about the base there is that unlike all the other AF bases I've been on, there's no clear signs showing how to get to the commissary and exchange (though the beach was clearly defined). We spent a lot of time trying to figure out where anything was. We did eventually find everything though, and realized that the commissary there is way bigger than the Navy one, but their housing isn't quite as nice as the Navy side (except for the O-4 and above housing. Holy cow the views there are AMAZING).
Tomorrow we start to look at houses. We'll see how it goes!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
House hunting and exploring
Yesterday we finally got a rental van (woohoo!). It's amazing what a difference it has made. Unfortunately exchanging cars took the better part of the day, but we were still able to hit another beach (Dadi Beach) before sundown. It did not disappoint.
Not ony was it beautiful, but the kids had a blast seeing all the hermit crabs, sand crabs, and other sea creatures. They even caught a few!
This morning we started searching off base for a pace to live, either permanent or short term (whichever works out best). Base housing is full through August, and they won't let us stay in the on base temp lodging until then. They want us to get a month to month lease while we wait, but I'm exploring all my options.
The housing office gave us a list of companies they recommend for rentals with for month to month leases that "work". Their idea of working and mine are different I guess, as many of the locations on the list are, to put it mildly, crap. One place reeked of urine and mold (mind you, this is for $2500 per month in rent for a less than 1200 sq foot unit). I know it's just because the companies that do month to months are lazy knowing there's an endless revenue stream from the military, and they aren't all bad, but those that were kind of soured me on the month to month waiting for Navy housing stuff (though Navy housing does look pretty amazing and has some nice advantages).
It looks like there are some really nice places in our price range out in town, making putting up with a month to month like that even harder to do. We're meeting with a realtor Saturday to explore more permanent rentals, but in the mean time started driving around to explore the island and where we'd like to live if we decide to go out in town.
Of course along the way we stopped and explored a bit! We stopped and walked up an overlook with steep stairs:
and views that made the stairs worth the climb :)!
We then found this little cove:
with little fish playing in the tide pools. (and a bunch of Japanese tourists).
We also hit Jacks Pirate Cove for lunch. It's a restaurant with quite a bit of history, and is a bit of an icon on the island. While there we tried some kelaguen, a local dish made from marlin in this case. It was quite delicious (and I think I need to learn to make it).
We ended up today hitting the local Payless supermarket, getting some locally grown fruits (mmmmm mangoes) and coming back so I could experiment more with these green papayas. This time: green papaya salad. It was delicious!
Not ony was it beautiful, but the kids had a blast seeing all the hermit crabs, sand crabs, and other sea creatures. They even caught a few!
This morning we started searching off base for a pace to live, either permanent or short term (whichever works out best). Base housing is full through August, and they won't let us stay in the on base temp lodging until then. They want us to get a month to month lease while we wait, but I'm exploring all my options.
The housing office gave us a list of companies they recommend for rentals with for month to month leases that "work". Their idea of working and mine are different I guess, as many of the locations on the list are, to put it mildly, crap. One place reeked of urine and mold (mind you, this is for $2500 per month in rent for a less than 1200 sq foot unit). I know it's just because the companies that do month to months are lazy knowing there's an endless revenue stream from the military, and they aren't all bad, but those that were kind of soured me on the month to month waiting for Navy housing stuff (though Navy housing does look pretty amazing and has some nice advantages).
It looks like there are some really nice places in our price range out in town, making putting up with a month to month like that even harder to do. We're meeting with a realtor Saturday to explore more permanent rentals, but in the mean time started driving around to explore the island and where we'd like to live if we decide to go out in town.
Of course along the way we stopped and explored a bit! We stopped and walked up an overlook with steep stairs:
and views that made the stairs worth the climb :)!
We then found this little cove:
with little fish playing in the tide pools. (and a bunch of Japanese tourists).
We also hit Jacks Pirate Cove for lunch. It's a restaurant with quite a bit of history, and is a bit of an icon on the island. While there we tried some kelaguen, a local dish made from marlin in this case. It was quite delicious (and I think I need to learn to make it).
 |
| All the sandwiches had this singed in them! :)! |
We ended up today hitting the local Payless supermarket, getting some locally grown fruits (mmmmm mangoes) and coming back so I could experiment more with these green papayas. This time: green papaya salad. It was delicious!
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