February always reminds me of the most challenging experience my family has had as serial military renters.
Since arriving at my husband’s first duty station in 2010, we’ve always chosen to live in on-post housing or rent a home off post, and before that, we rented apartments. We aren’t yet sure where we’ll settle in the end, so we hesitate to purchase a home.
One of the most important things you can do as a renting military family is purchase renters insurance. With a military bank like USAA, it’s a very inexpensive monthly fee, but it protects you much more than you might imagine.
I found this out the hard way.
It was 2015 and my husband and I were living in a rental in Maryland with our only child at the time, and I was seven months pregnant with our second child. We spent a four-day weekend over Presidents’ Day with my parents who lived about two hours away.
We loaded up the car to return to Maryland, and less than 15 minutes after being on the road, my cell phone rang. It was our security system company notifying us that our basement door alarm had been triggered. They said they would investigate and call me back.
Their investigation was disheartening: The fire department had broken into our home to shut off the water and electrical system after a neighbor saw water POURING OUT OF THE ATTIC of our house.
As we continued driving, maybe a bit faster than legal, my mind raced.
What would we find when we got there?
How bad was it?
Would we need to move?
If we moved, how hard would it be to find a new home? I was seven months pregnant, after all.
My husband was the first to enter our home and his face was grim when he returned.
“It’s bad,” he told me.
And it was.
Water was all over the house. Sopping wet carpet, our brand new dining room table covered in water, a smashed light fixture that fell after getting waterlogged. As I went upstairs, it only got worse. The water came from our attic into our bedroom, and the ceiling had fallen onto our bed.
Drywall and insulation littered our floor.
Our basement ceiling was caving in, but hadn’t yet fallen.
And it was wet everywhere.
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