We’ve always rented our homes.

As a military family, we PCS or move residences every 2-4 years. Purchasing a home just doesn’t make financial sense to us.

Most of us move out of our parents’ homes into apartments with friends or college roommates, then we eventually get a real job, find a partner, and buy a house. It’s so linear.

My life has never been linear.

My active duty Air Force husband receives a housing allowance that differs everywhere we go based on cost of living and various military installations. It’s supposed to cover about 80% of housing expenses, but it often doesn’t even cover that much.

We feel the stigma of renters. Neighbors come to meet us and visibly shy away when they realize we’re renting in their neighborhood.

Do they think we won’t care for the lawn? Do they feel we bring down their property value?

They realize we’re transient and they don’t want to make the effort of a temporary friendship. Most of the people we’ve met in our Ohio town don’t understand military life.

And we homeschool, which often puts up another barrier.

It can be a lonely life.

What Do We Consider Before Renting a Home?

We’ve often rented sight unseen – and I don’t really recommend that, but it’s stressful enough moving across the country or around the world.

We use online sites that specialize in finding military housing like Military By Owner. We’ve found some great deals. And homeowners who use these sites know military families.

We try to find a house to suit us that is less than our allowance. We don’t want to be house-poor. It’s really hard to find what we want since we have a rather large family and we’re at home a lot more than other families.

We pray about what we want and need. After so many years of renting, we have a few items we really don’t want to budge on in a house. It’s amazing to see those prayers get answered in amazing ways.

Research the Neighborhood

Some families are concerned about school districts. We homeschool, so that’s not a worry for us.

I usually join a social media group for military families, homeschoolers, or a city-based group to get info on the area. These are great places to ask questions.

We want a good balance of families with kids so our children can make friends. I want the streets to be safe for walking and biking and rollerblading, so sidewalks are a bonus.

Is it near enough to the base where my husband works? He doesn’t want to commute more than 30 minutes each way and I don’t blame him. Traffic sucks.

Is it easily accessible to a good grocery store and library? These are our priorities.

Ask Owner about Pets and other Things

We have two cats. We know we have non-refundable deposits for them. It’s sometimes very hard to find a good rental that will accept us with pets or cats.

Can I paint walls? Hang curtains or drapes? Can I get blinds or shades?

Can I plant flowers? Can I transplant something that is unhappy in its current location? Do I have to replace a plant that dies? Can I trim trees?

Is there something special I need to know about and maintain – like a water softener? Or a sump pump?

Be proactive. This is not the time to ask forgiveness instead of permission.

Inspect the Home

Document any damages to prove you didn’t make them – inside and out.

Perhaps have a friend come help who isn’t emotionally invested and has a good eye. Make note of broken tile, wall holes, floor scratches, torn carpet, window sills, door frames, counters, cabinets…

If there is furniture left inside the house, make sure it’s in the contract and you’re not liable if it breaks. I prefer to have all the owner’s stuff removed.

Take photos and write it all down on the contract or make a list and have the landlord sign and date it as proof of agreement.

For example, our landlady knows the windowsill in the laundry room was chewed up from her dogs, so we won’t be held liable.

Study the Contract

Make sure you understand everything in it.

Look up your state’s landlord tenant laws and know those.

Ask questions. Make changes. Initial every page and have the landlord do so also and make copies.

Landlords always want to know everything about you before renting, but that should be a two-way street. How many units do you own? What’s your monthly income? Mortgages? How many people have you evicted? What were the circumstances? I need references from your previous tenants.

Kelgore Trout

Discuss Deposits, Repairs, Requirements, Responsibilities

Is the deposit refundable? What could invalidate the refund?

Are there fees or deductibles for repairs? We usually have to pay for minor repairs like plumbing. For larger repairs, we’ve had a $50 deductible. I guess this is to help ensure we don’t just go around breaking stuff.

What is the landlord’s responsibility? The way I see it, it’s not my house, so they should handle the major stuff. I replace light bulbs and filters. If an appliance stops working, I expect it to be repaired or replaced.

What will you as the tenant be responsible to do? I take care of the lawn by mowing and edging, but I’m not paying for a chemical service to keep it “golf course weedfree.”

Worst Case Scenarios

It seems to me that most landlords don’t want to return deposits. They seem to do anything, make outrageous complaints so they don’t have to return the deposit money – even when there’s nothing wrong with the house. “Normal wear and tear” is a relative term. I can’t imagine moving without a previous deposit to place on the new place. What do people do when it’s required to pay two months’ rent upfront as a deposit?

I owned my home in Georgia when I met Aaron. He was stationed at Robins AFB then. Selling it was a hassle and I regret not keeping it and being a landlady myself. It was a cute little 3BR ranch on a pretty lot, convenient to everything!

Our first rental house in San Antonio, Texas, was near Lackland AFB. Aaron’s cousin went to check out the house for us. It was clean and pretty new. I don’t think we could have done any better with our financial situation at the time. The owners were dual military officers, stationed overseas and the house was through a management company. When our brick patio started eroding and deteriorating, we took photos as proof and repaired it as best we could. We cleaned it well upon move-out and got our deposit back, no problem. We lived there two years.

We lived on Hickam AFB in Hawaii. There weren’t many other options. The housing office is generally fine to deal with, but our neighbors were nightmares. They dug up plants and chopped down protected trees and when housing came to accuse me about it, I got very upset. The housing allowance just disappears when you live on base, but some utilities are usually included. We lived there three years.

We rented sight unseen in Utah – near Hill AFB. When we showed up in our rental minivan in the driveway from a very long flight, the man with our key was unavailable for a while. The condition of the house wasn’t as described or the photos in the ad. It was much more rundown than we expected. The owner was a Navy 06 living in Maryland. Repairs were always a hassle. The local contact down the street we had for “management” suddenly passed away from a heart attack. The neighborhood handyman we were told to call refused to help and complained he never got paid! We always felt the landlord and his wife were suspicious of us. We seldom complained. We did so much to that house that was falling apart around us. We stripped wallpaper and painted the living room and kitchen to match the dining room. They even traveled to inspect the house in person and criticized my cleaning. There was a leak in the basement bathroom wall and the owner’s son spent a month repairing it – with no rent deduction and supplies and dust were everywhere. The entire basement flooded on Memorial Day. The neighborhood rallied together to help me. And the owner’s wife swore there was a sump pump and I could have prevented the flood. There was no sump pump. Upon move-out, we cleaned the house top to bottom and several ladies came to help us. We had to pay for a commercial whole house carpet cleaning and show the receipt. The owner was moving back into the house with his wife. He refused to return our deposit. He made petty complaint after complaint. The wallpaper in the stairwell to the basement was torn, but it was like that when we moved in. The flat stovetop wasn’t cleaned and we should replace it – for $650. I rushed over and scraped it with a razor. Supplies were left in a storage room – by his son. The grass wasn’t manicured and my husband and son rushed over in the dark to borrow an edger and fix it. My kids drew a welcome sign in chalk on the front stoop and he wanted it scrubbed off – even though it was supposed to rain later that week. Really?! Finally, we complained to the neighbors and asked what should we do since he kept adding to his list. They gave him a talking-to and we finally got the deposit check returned – only a couple days before we were leaving the state! We lived there four years.

Overseas housing is a little different. Rental houses must get approval through the military housing office and applications are handled through them. This is supposed to protect us as the American military tenant. Also, rent is due in Euro and our housing allowance is in American dollars. It’s all a bit stressful. We found a nice house in a village near Kaiserslautern, Germany, that was about 45 minutes from where my husband worked at the Landstuhl hospital. We rented this house because it had an amazing kitchen with a big stovetop and two ovens – American size! and an American refrigerator. The bathroom was pretty great too. The housing office puts a lot of pressure on to find a house ASAP so they don’t have to support us staying in temporary housing on the bases. We looked at 3-4 houses before deciding on this one and it was a relief. The landlady and her daughter and son-in-law seemed delightful. They invited us over for New Year’s and were always friendly. We had them over for a celebration dinner with American grilled food. When we did our final walkthrough with a checklist for the housing office, they said everything was cleaned and in order. We breathed a sigh of relief. We had about 10 days until we flew back to the States. The housing office called and said the landlady claimed we owed €3000 for the kitchen wallpaper and another €650 for a cleaning fee. When we questioned this, she didn’t think the bathroom was cleaned well nor the blinds dusted. My husband and daughter rushed over to rewash everything, even though it had been spotless when we left. Germany and old stone houses are dusty. So they canceled that cleaning fee. They still wanted wallpaper money and that ate up our whole deposit. The housing office clerk said they couldn’t request that much as a going rate for paint. They played semantics and we ended up getting part of our deposit back – only €2400. The final insult was that “they were trying to prepare the house for German tenants and they were pickier than Americans.” We lived there three years. Apparently, the house is still vacant – after more than a year. They can’t find or maybe they don’t want another American tenant. Rumor has it that Germans won’t pay the rental fees that is set for Americans through the housing office agreements. The landlady owns 7 or more homes in the area that she rents out – mostly to Americans, because it pays.

We’re now in Ohio near Wright-Patterson AFB. This house is undoubtedly the best house we’ve ever lived in. It’s on a quiet street. There’s a creek in the backyard and lots of wildlife. The landlady just updated the kitchen and flooring and it seems brand new. There are very few problems or inconveniences. She pays for an exterminator to come out quarterly. We have fixed all the toilet mechanisms ourselves since the hard water destroys plastic quickly. We’re being proactive about making minor repairs like patching picture holes in the walls and fixing paint stains. None of the paint in this house is washable!

I hope we don’t have issues upon move-out time. I am pretty weary of fighting with landlords over little things.

After all this renting, we know exactly what we want when it comes time to buy our own home.

Do you have a rental horror story? Do you have rental tips?

Resources:

• This Is Where You Belong: Finding Home Wherever You Are by Melody Warnick 
• Almost There: Searching for Home in a Life on the Move by Bekah DiFelice
• God Strong: The Military Wife’s Spiritual Survival Guide by Sara Horn
• Tour of Duty: Preparing Our Hearts for Deployment: A Bible Study for Military Wives by Sara Horn
• Chicken Soup for the Military Wife’s Soul: 101 Stories to Touch the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Charles Preston
• Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives by Jocelyn Green
• Faith Deployed…Again: More Daily Encouragement for Military Wives by Jocelyn Green
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Deployment: 40 Devotions for Military Couples by Heather Gray

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We’ve rented a lot of houses.

We have to clean the rental houses when we move to a new location. I’ve never paid a cleaning service. Some homeowners have been surprised to hear that and perhaps a little nervous, but it saves us hundreds of dollars and only takes a few hours of work to get a house ready for the next renter.

I try to keep things clean and neat all along so it’s not such an overwhelming job.

It’s easier to clean a house that isn’t full of clutter.

How to have a low-maintenance house:

• Minimal lifestyle. Refuse. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Rot.
• A place for everything and everything in its place. If you need more stuff to store your stuff, minimize.
• Low-maintenance and enduring surfaces and materials. Leather is more durable and easily wipeable than microfiber upholstery, for instance.
• Eliminate knick-knacks and flat surfaces to minimize dusting.
• Clear the floors. Hanging items (TV, coats, lights) make it easier to clean floors. Tile and wood is easier than carpet.
• Vent bathrooms with fans or open windows to reduce mold.
• Run the stove fan while cooking to reduce grease in the kitchen. Clean regularly.
• No shoes in the house. Install a shoe cabinet by the door.
• Under counter or wall soap dispensers in kitchen and bathrooms. Keep counters clear.
• Gas fireplaces are cleaner than wood-burning ones.
• Plants for air cleaners. I love my houseplants!
• Store perishables in clear airtight reusable containers to eliminate waste.
• Use only dishwasher safe kitchen and dining items. No paper products! Less hand washing.
• Run full loads in dishwasher and washer/dryer.

Having less stuff and a low maintenance household reduces anxiety.

While those Pinterest pictures of cutesy decor look nice in images, they’re not for my reality. We don’t redecorate with every season, or even every time we move to a new house (and we move frequently with the military!). We’ve had the same furniture for almost 14 years.

If I’ve learned anything about living in so many different houses, it’s how to clean them quickly and easily – whether for company, a housing inspection, or landlord walk-through before leaving.

It irritates me to no end that so many rental houses have cheap paint that flakes or isn’t washable. We take tons of pictures during an initial walkthrough of any flaws we don’t want to be responsible for repairing, but there’s always something that we notice after living in a house for a few months. Landlords shouldn’t cut too many corners to save money. They just have to make those cosmetic or major repairs for the next tenants anyway.

I like to streamline my cleaning methods.

Always begin from the top and work your way down.

Ceiling fans and light fixtures, countertops, cabinets, etc. and floors last.

I use reusable sponges and cloth rags, only occasionally paper towels. We also have a carpet cleaner that works wonders.

For rug spots, baking soda usually works great. I often work it in with a brush, let it dry, then vacuum it up.

My favorite natural cleaners: vinegar, citric acid, baking soda, peroxide, rubbing alcohol.

Living Room

Dust cobwebs from ceilings, fans, door jambs, and window sills.

Wash windows with vinegar and/or soapy squeegee and dry with newspaper on a cloudy day for no streaks!

Vacuum and wash floors. Don’t forget the baseboards!

Mop your way out of a room, and it helps to keep the mop head going in the same direction of the grain of a hardwood floor – this reduces the chance of streaks forming.

Make sure to vacuum and wash sliding door tracks.

Bedrooms

Dust cobwebs from ceilings, fans, door jambs, and window sills.

Wash windows.

Vacuum and wash floors. Don’t forget the baseboards!

Kitchen

Dust cobwebs from ceiling, window frames, doorjambs.

Wash walls. Use baking soda and/or soap. We do our best when the paint isn’t gloss or semi-gloss. We’ve had to pay damages because of stains, but it really isn’t our fault when there’s shoddy or cheap workmanship. Gloss paint should be in bathrooms and kitchens!

Wash windows.

Wash cabinets, in and out.

For those flat top stoves, a razor blade removes the crusted-on spots. For gas stoves, make a paste with baking soda and water and scrub the cool surfaces. Let sit for a few minutes and then rinse. For electric coil stoves, wash the cool and unplugged coils with soap and rinse well. Try not to get the plugs wet. Stainless steel pads can scrub the drip pans well.

I keep the drip pans and oven lined with foil to help with cleaning.

Clean ovens with baking soda and peroxide. A razor blade also gets all that icky baked-on grease off the oven door. For the oven racks, soak them in baking soda or citric acid. We do double duty and use bathtubs for soaking grates and drip pans.

Wash refrigerator, including door seals. I take out and wash shelves and drawers in warm water. Pull out the entire unit and clean vents and underneath. We often find cat toys!

For stainless appliances, use a damp microfiber cloth, then buff with a dry one. Always wipe in the direction of the grain of the stainless.

Wash the seal and rim around the dishwasher.

Vacuum floor and mop floor.

Bathrooms

Get those mirrors clean. Use vinegar to remove any residue. I like squeegees to get them streak-free.

Citric acid gets even the hardest stains out! We use this in toilets.

Dust cobwebs from ceiling, window frames, doorjambs.

Wash shower and tub. Sometimes, I have to let them soak for the vinegar to work. Baking soda is a great scrub. Citric acid is also good for stains.

Clean sinks, counters, drawers, cabinets.

Wash walls.

Vacuum and wash floors.

Yes, sometimes I even use bleach.

Windows

Use vinegar to remove any residue. I like squeegees to get them streak-free. Newspaper also works better than cloth or paper towels. Clean sills, frames, and tracks.

Walls

Patch holes in white walls with plain toothpaste or buy wall patch spackle.

Dust corners for cobwebs. Don’t forget to wash baseboards! Vacuum lint and dust from radiators, air vents, and air returns. Wipe off any residue.

Floors

Vacuuming hard floors saves time and does a better job than brooms or dust mops. Don’t forget to wash baseboards!

Scrub tile floors with a hard sponge mop or brush. I even used a razor blade to get off tough spots on the tile.

Mop your way out of a room, and it helps to keep the mop head going in the same direction of the grain of a hardwood floor – this reduces the chance of streaks forming.

Washer and Dryer

A cup of vinegar in the washer cleans out most residue. I use a cloth and wipe out the seal and leave the lid open. Wash out soap dispensers.

Clean the lint trap in the dryer, vacuuming and wiping out residue.

Garage

We have a couple Rubbermaids of camping equipment in the corner. Also, coolers and some other seasonal items are stored nearby.

We keep yard toys on a low shelf that the kids can reach.

Tools are on a shelf and work desk.

Gardening and lawn care items are on a shelf or hanging. The lawnmower is in the corner with the gas can.

Bikes and scooters are neatly stored along the side. I have to enforce this!

By the door is another shelf with gardening and birding items.

I prefer no shoes in the house. We have a shoe shelf by the door. Sometimes, the shoes don’t quite make it in the shelf.

Sweep or blow floor frequently to keep dust, dirt, and leaves from coming inside on the bottoms of feet.

Outside

Trim bushes and hedges.

Mow and edge lawn.

We sweep or blow driveway, porch, patio, and deck areas frequently to make sure they look neat and tidy.

I can’t justify paying a lot for lawn maintenance on a rental house. We occasionally buy some low-maintenance, high-producing flowers that last a whole season – impatiens or petunias or pansies. I get mulch or pebbles or straw for upkeep in beds because I like everything looking neat. We are stewards of the house and it’s our responsibility.

Sometimes, landlords complain that the house isn’t clean or neat enough, or they feel there’s more than general wear and tear. Whether I missed a spot or they’re trying to make excuses to refuse the deposit return…

I just calmly ask how I can make it right.

For one landlady, it was a window shelf in the bathroom that had some dust, vertical blinds that needed to be wiped again, and a toilet base needed to be wiped again. They also had cloth wallpaper in the kitchen (are you kidding me?!) that would not come clean. So they blamed us for grease stains and we only got half our deposit back.

Another landlord complained about my children’s welcome chalk drawings on the front concrete stoop (really?!) and that the lawn wasn’t professionally mowed and edged (since our lawn equipment had already been shipped).

Some landlords are just really nitpicky and don’t really want to return that deposit.

Resources:

• Simply Clean: The Proven Method for Keeping Your Home Organized, Clean, and Beautiful in Just 10 Minutes a Day by Becky Rapinchuk
• How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House’s Dirty Little Secrets by Dana K. White
• Cleaning House: A Mom’s Twelve-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Wills Wyma
• Unstuffed: Decluttering Your Home, Mind, and Soul by Ruth Soukup
• Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life by Crystal Paine
• Love the Home You Have: Simple Ways to…Embrace Your Style *Get Organized *Delight in Where You Are by Melissa Michaels
• CHAOS to Clean: in 31 Easy BabySteps by Marla Cilley
• Having a Martha Home the Mary Way: 31 Days to a Clean House and a Satisfied Soul by Sarah Mae

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