The Foreign Service Journal, June 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JUNE 2018 37 For members of the U.S. Foreign Service, “home” is a complex concept, and buying a house can seem daunting. BY DONNA SCARAMASTRA GORMAN Going Home How to Buy a House for Home Leave and R&R Donna Scaramastra Gorman is the Journal ’ s associate editor. A writer whose work has appeared in Time Magazine, Newsweek, The Washington Post and The Christian Science Monitor, she is the spouse of a Diplomatic Security agent. She has lived in Amman, Moscow, Yerevan, Almaty, Beijing, and currently resides in Washing- ton, D.C. I t might happen on that first night of home leave, when jet lag awakens you at 2 a.m. in your child- hood home. You try to sneak downstairs in search of something to eat, but you trip over the dog and slam headfirst into the bedroom door, awakening your elderly parents, who until that exact moment had no idea you knew so many curse words in so many different languages. Or it could happen one week into home leave, when your kids are bickering with one another for the fourth time that morning about whose turn it is to use the guest bathroom while your spouse is on the phone trying to find a gym with a decent monthly usage fee. You look up from your task of finding matching socks in the depths of your suitcase at the exact moment that your toddler dumps her juice on your sister’s brand-new suede couch. Or maybe it won’t happen until your trip is over, when you’re settling in at your new post and you get the credit card bill for that three-week stay in a dingy hotel room, near your relatives but miles from the beach. FS KNOW-HOW At some point, it’s going to happen. You’re going to gnash your teeth and wail, “Why can’t I just buy a house that I can go to whenever I have R&R or home leave?” Some of your colleagues have succeeded in doing just that. And they have some tips for you on how best to make it happen. Know the Neighborhood All of the officers and family members interviewed for this story recommend buying in an area with which you are very familiar. Dave Pernal, the spouse of a third-tour officer cur- rently assigned to Bahrain, bought an R&R home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he spent most of his summers growing up. He recommends that you buy in a place with which you have a connection. “Having summered down-Cape for most of my childhood and pre-FS life, I knew a lot about the area,” says Pernal. “My wife pinned many a house on Zillow in our search, and by looking at the map I could tell if there would be noise issues, green-fly issues (being bitten by those suckers hurts), flooding issues, traffic, etc.” The couple also had help from a family friend who is a Realtor in the area.