Budget cuts & Military installations = good investments ?

[Amanda Arredondo]

Hi everyone! Hope you all are experiencing sunny skies as we are here in Northern New York! As I study more about rei and what a good market is (where there is employment etc) I keep coming back to my military roots. With the exception of a short semester abroad in Europe I have always lived around military bases/posts. Now I am considering if purchasing a single/multi family home is a solid investment? My dilemma: budget cuts. I have my doubts as the military is constantly making changes and I have heard by 2020 many units will be moved and realigned with other bases. Potentially making rental units in certain areas very profitable and others may have no tenants at all. Is anyone else tracking this or have any thoughts they could share with me? I would love all and any input on this subject. Thanks! Amanda

[Bill Gulley]

You're also talking politics if you think a base or post will be closing!

There are safe installations, schedules have already been approved, large installations are difficult to realign, Ft Rucker won't be going away, it's aviation, Ft. Sam won't be going away, the medical center, Ft. Leven Worth certainly won't be going anywhere, Ft Mead is another, Ft. Riely and Ft. Polk aren't going anywhere. Eglin AFB won't be closing, a multi-service training area, Navy ports won't change. All IMO. 

I believe the list of scheduled closures has been published. Training areas are unique, can't fire some weapons systems just anywhere, Ft. Hood is huge and needed for armor, runways aren't cheap to build, infrastructure is hard and costly to duplicate, won't be shutting down large hospitals or port logistics. They also said after the announcement that there would not be any other installation closings....well, it could happen I guess, not a high risk, IMO.

Talk of budget cuts in the military have been going on since 1775, I don't give it much thought as they usually find money to keep larger installations operating. Rumor control.

I started by buying around Army posts, there were always rumors of expansions and shut downs of units, most never happened and when one unit moves out, some other operation takes its place. They closed the 5th Division at Ft. Polk but it became the Air Assault School and MP/Homeland Security operations.

Know the installation that you're looking at, if it has unique aspects that are costly to duplicate, chances are it won't be closed down. Consider too, civilian applications for installations, like Persedio (sp?) they didn't tear the place down but renovated for other uses.

And, as mentioned, stick to areas that have a good economic base not totally dependent on any one economy.     :)