Top Things to Know Before PCSing to Fairchild AFB | Spokane, WA

Did you just get orders for Fairchild Air Force Base for 2023 and have no clue what to expect from your next duty station? 

Well let's be honest and say that PCSing is not easy because you have no idea what you’re moving to. What are the schools like? Where are the best places for food and entertainment? What’s the weather like? We all know how hard it is to plan and get to know your new home from afar. 

Well that’s where I come in! I will give you all the information you need to make the best and easiest PCS move to Fairchild Air Force Base in 2023. 

Hey there and thanks for watching this video. I’m Haydn Halsted, a local real estate agent in the greater Spokane, WA and I’ve helped many clients PCS in and out of the base over the last few years and know exactly how much stress it can cause any family doing the same thing and that’s why I was motivated to make this video. I hope this can act as a one stop shop to help inform your move and help ease your mind as you make plans to move here. 

And before we get into the video, if you wouldn’t mind it would mean a whole lot to me if you would please subscribe to the channel to help me grow our community of people interested or moving to Spokane. 

And now that you’ve joined the community, please click the like button for the YT algorithm, as it helps me show these videos to even more people moving to Spokane or PCSing just like yourself. 

Of course, if you would like to book a call with me, you can do so right now using the link down below. Let’s get into the video! 

So, the first question I get all the time from people moving to Spokane from out of the area is what is the weather like? 

 Well I found that a lot of people associate Spokane with Seattle weather and that’s pretty far from the truth. If you’re coming up here from anywhere in the South you might want to buy some new winter clothes as we experience all 4 seasons very well. 

The summer months are very enjoyable, with temperatures in the 80’s for most of it but we do usually have a good solid week or two of temperatures over 100 degrees. Two summers ago we had a very intense summer of almost two months with temperatures over 90 with the highest being about 110 which was a new record for us. 

In the winter we can get a heavy amount of snow like we are right now. This past November we got 19 inches of snow in a few days and it’s been climbing ever since. So I always warn people moving from a warm environment to make sure you get snow tires and a good all wheel drive vehicle. 

The next question I get which makes total sense, is what is housing like at Fairchild? 

The first option for housing is the on base housing Fairchild offers. They have homes from 2-4 bedrooms that can be leased. It's a quaint neighborhood and you get access to all the amenities that the base offers without needing to wait at the gate to get in. There are playgrounds, parks, local events and so on. 

When it comes to renting or purchase a home off-base, many people will choose to live in Airway Heights or Medical Lake because of the partnership the schools have with the base but if you want to live further away from base, I’ve seen people live all over Spokane because it’s actually fairly easy to be within a 20-30 minute drive of the base. If you live on the South Hill or even the Spokane Valley, it’s easy to jump on I-90 and go straight out there or if you like the northside of Spokane, it’s very easy to make your way to West Trails Rd from the Northwest side of Spokane including 5 mile, 9 mile, Audubon and Shadle which would cover homes in all price ranges. 

The thing to know about renting is that our rental rates have increased dramatically over the last year. In 2021 rents rose 21% and in 2022 they have continued to rise about 4-5% on top of that. The average 2 bedroom apartment in Spokane is going for just under $1300 a month. These prices rose alongside home prices over the last couple of years. 

Currently, being a VA home buyer if that’s the loan type you choose to use, there is a lot of incredible opportunities in Spokane with the market being much slower than it was in 2020 and 2021. It had been difficult to get a VA offer accepted because many sellers chose to go with a cash offer or conventional offer with a large down payment. But today is a different story as you can now negotiate that the sellers cover your closing costs  and so you could truly be out of pocket close to zero dollars to purchase a home in some situations. 

BUT when it comes to the timelines you're working with and the short temporary housing timelines you’ll get, it makes sense to start your home search before you move here. 

What I do with my clients that are moving here from out of state or PCSing to Fairchild is set up a zoom call so we can talk about what you’re specifically looking for, get you set up on a search so I can send you a list of properties and start looking at properties virtually. 

If I send a home that you like, I will go out to the property myself to shoot a video, walk you through all the good and bad of the property - what it smells like, how old the appliances are, as much as I can so we can make an informed decision on what to offer. I drive around the neighborhood while shooting a video as well so you can see what all your neighbors look like, what parks are in the area, and any other cool features within walking distance of the property.