Tenant asking to extend their lease until end of OCT. Thoughts?

[Jeff N.]

Title pretty much says it all.

The rental is near Ft Meade in Maryland.   My tenants are currently military.   the lease is ending the end of April.  The Tenants just reached out letting me know they would like to extend the lease until the end of October.     When they leave, I will most likely have new carpets, and flooring installed, as with the basics touched up.   So there will be 1-2 weeks of down time before trying to fill the home again.   That would put us at mid November.

I know some people are really big with having spring time leases,  however fall rentals seem to have less inventory which could allow for a bigger demand on my unit.   My tenants also said, with military, they feel I'll have a big pool of people due to the base regardless of time.

What is everyone's thoughts on when the best and worst time to start a lease?    Does it being near a base really help?