Housing For Long Term Military Training

[Kennith McLoud]

I recently arrived in Enid, OK for military training and expect myself to be here for at least a year, maybe two. I have been researching REI for about two years now and feel like this is the time to get started. I am a recently commissioned officer and will be living off base. This means I'll receive BAH of about $900 a month which I would like to save and have other students here pay for my mortgage, via the other rooms in the house I plan on renting them. However, this is not a guarantee and it leads me to my current predicament. I have been speaking with a realtor and taken several tours of some houses. My plan is to keep the home after I complete training and hire a PM to manage it for me while I'm out of state. My concern is most of the houses that I have been looking at are roughly 170k and while I can qualify for this through the use of my VA loan. I worry the mortgage will be too much and is not feasible at $1,000 a month including the $773 loan, $177 tax and $50 insurance. If anyone has any suggestions or words of wisdom please share as I am all ears.