Considering

Last week, the primary carrier agreed to buy a new townhome in Dallastown, Pennsylvania. She told me her townhome cost around $140,000 (this is half what a place in Maryland would cost you) and it's really nice. Her mortgage payments are going to be under $1,000 a month. The only drawback she's going to have is the commute to the Post Office. She calls it 1 hour but Mapquest calls it 1 and 1/2 hours. Barring the commute, her new place sounded like a really good deal. For me, my rent is going to go up sometime this summer to over $1,500 a month and I'm not living in the most expensive apartments in town. There are apartments just down the street from where I live that are between $200 and $400 more a month.

Another appealing aspect of living in Pennsylvania is they don't tax military retirement pay. Maryland does. That would save me probably around $2,000 a year in state taxes.

I plan to drive out to the new development and see how the drive is. Also, I want to find out if there are any military bases along the drive. I like being able to use the base Commissary and base clinic. I don't like the prospect of a 2 hour drive to get to the closest base. We'll see what works out. For now, I'm considering the option. It would be nice to have my own place and to save money on taxes. We'll see what works out.