Home Ownership

I remember reading somewhere that Cadets are prohibited from owning a residence. Now, I cannot find that anywhere. Does anyone know where to find that regulation?

I seem to remember a c/o 2018 prior that owned his own home.

USAFA83GradWife said:

I seem to remember a c/o 2018 prior that owned his own home.

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Does he still own a home? I don't have access to the Cadet Sight Picture right now but that would have the most accurate language on the topic.

I'm sure he does. However, he left at the end of the 1st semester when he decided the Academy wasn't the right place for him. My DD mentioned that one of his reasons was that he was "already established and owned his own home."

I’ve always known about the ‘can’t have a spouse’ thing, but I’m curious as to why a cadet/mid could not own a home. For some, it’s just another asset in a portfolio and may have been left to them. And, as mentioned, some priors may already own a home. If it is in fact forbidden, can anyone shed light on why? (Silly, I know, to ask why the military does something, but I’m just curious.)

They can't own a car till their 2* year (nor maintain one, I believe). I think the reasoning is probably just what one would think: people who own homes are "attached" to them, financially and otherwise. Someone paying a mortgage is probably not going to be as open to those new experiences cadets endure, um, face, I mean. Just like why they can't have dependents.

Can you imagine, you're at Recognition and you get a call from your tenants: The toilet is clogged and we can't pay a plumber!

Can they not own a car or just not have one? I had a car in my name, but it never appeared in Annapolis until my 2/C year. I know we were not allowed to operate motorcycles.

Home ownership would be tough as Cadet, unless you have a great property manager. Maybe the financial implications it could have if things go sideways?

The rules were (in my time at least) that you could not maintain a car on base or own/lease a home in the COS area. Plenty of cadets from the area had cars, but they could not park the vehicle on base until 2 dig year. For a variety of reasons, cadets weren't allowed to have a local residence unless they already had one. A few had well-off parents who bought local homes that the cadets de facto had to themselves, but the idea was that having your own local residence was off limits. I knew people who were disciplined for it too.

Hornet, I seem to remember a cadet from the class ahead of yours whose parents had bought one of those "cliffside" houses out in the mountains (near Copper Creek?). I do remember some bruhaha about that too.

I do wonder if things have changed, now, though? Lots of things are different

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of someone who inherited a family home that carries no mortgage. And I shudder at the tax implications for a prior who attends an SA and has to sell a home before owning it for 24 months. But yeah, one could not pay a mortgage on cadet/mid pay anyway. Only if you had some sort of trust in place that took care of a mortgage. This discussion only applies to about >1% of cadets/mids anyway.

And I guess it ties into the well-off parents that Hornet mentions above who buy crash pads in town for their kid. USNA had quite the reputation for it! Someone on here mentioned that USNA sent out letters to parents asking them to not do this. (I have no idea if that actually happened. It sounds far-fetched to me.) If it’s the parent’s asset, I don’t see how in the world an SA can tell them what they can and can’t do with their own money.

"No Horse, No Wife, No Mustache" ...No House

Here is the official answer:

I got a hold of legal Department -- they were very appreciative of my question as many people jump into things without knowing the regs, and it becomes a big problem if someone inadvertently us afoul. My specific question was about putting a cadet on title as part of an estate plan. In this case, it is an income property, not in Colorado. This is absolutely fine, and I was told that the general rule is that they do not want any affiliates having any ownership or in any way maintaining a home within 150 miles of the academy. The reason was exactly as discussed above -- they do not want party houses. I understand this very thing happened with three Basics this year.