Buyer Education · August 23, 2026 · 9 min read
A client texted me at 4:47 on a Thursday afternoon last month. "Orders just came through. Fort Meade. Report date is October 12. We're in San Diego. Help."
I've seen that panic before. You're still at your desk on the West Coast or overseas, your phone is lighting up with congratulations from your unit, and your spouse is already Googling "homes for sale in Anne Arundel County" while mentally cataloging everything in your garage that won't fit in the moving truck.
The first 72 hours after PCS orders arrive are not the time to start house-hunting. They're the time to build your foundation so that when you do start looking at homes, you're not scrambling or settling or accidentally buying in a flood zone because you ran out of time.
I'm MRP-certified and I've worked with military families moving to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Meade, Joint Base Andrews, the Pentagon, and every small installation in between. Here's what I tell every single one of them to do in those first three days.
Before you do anything else, you need two numbers: your report date and your housing allowance.
Your report date is obvious. Your BAH rate might not be, especially if you're moving from a lower-cost area or if you've been overseas on OHA. Pull up the Defense Travel Management Office BAH calculator and run your actual rank and dependency status for your new duty station. Don't guess.
I had a Navy family last year who assumed their BAH would cover a four-bedroom rental in Harford County near Aberdeen. It didn't. Not even close. They found out three weeks before their report date and wound up in a cramped townhouse for six months while they regrouped. That's a lousy way to start a tour.
Also: check your entitlements. Are you authorized to buy? Are you required to live on base for any portion of your assignment? Some junior enlisted families don't have a choice, and some O-6s have proximity requirements nobody mentions until week two. Your housing office can tell you, but you need to ask now, not after you've fallen in love with a house in Carroll County.
The Baltimore-Washington corridor is not one market. It's a patchwork of counties with wildly different prices, school systems, commute times, and tax rates.
If you're headed to Fort Meade, you're looking at Anne Arundel County, Howard County, northern Prince George's County, and maybe Montgomery County if you're willing to sit in traffic. If it's Aberdeen Proving Ground, add Harford County and Cecil County to the list, and possibly southern Pennsylvania (York County) if you want land and don't mind the state line.
Each county has its own vibe. Anne Arundel has water access and higher prices. Harford is more suburban and affordable, especially north of Bel Air. Howard has top-tier schools and a tax bill to match. Cecil is rural, quiet, and underleveraged by military buyers who don't realize how close it actually is.
Spend day two researching school ratings (if you have kids), tax rates, and average list prices. Maryland's Department of Assessments and Taxation has property records you can search by county. It's clunky but free, and it'll give you a gut check before you start browsing Zillow and getting your hopes up.
I also recommend looking at real listings. Not to buy—not yet—but to calibrate. Check out my current listings to see what's active in Harford and the surrounding region, and then cross-reference with other counties.
This is the part people skip, and it kills them later.
You need a lender who understands VA loans and military timelines. Not all of them do. Some lenders still treat VA loans like they're 2008-era paperwork bombs, even though they're some of the smoothest purchases I close. Find someone who's done volume with military buyers in Maryland and who can give you a preapproval letter that actually means something.
I've seen buyers show up to showings with preapproval letters from online lenders who've never closed a deal in Maryland. Listing agents don't take them seriously, especially in this August market where contracts are falling through at higher rates. You want a local lender or a military-specialist lender who knows the county transfer taxes, the MD loan limits, and how to close in 30 days or less if your report date is tight.
And yes, you need a realtor. Preferably one who's MRP-certified (Military Relocation Professional) and licensed in the state where you're landing. I'm licensed in Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, which covers most of the PCS moves into this region, but if you're going somewhere else, ask your lender or your command for a referral. The National Association of REALTORS® also has an MRP directory you can search.
A good realtor will help you translate your BAH into realistic expectations, tell you which ZIP codes to avoid if you're risk-averse about resale, and keep you from waiving inspections just because you're under time pressure. We've all seen the house that looks great in photos and has a $30,000 septic problem. Don't be that buyer.
Don't start scheduling showings. You're not ready.
Don't put in an offer on the first house you see online just because it's "perfect" and you're afraid it'll be gone. If it's actually perfect and priced right, yes, it might go under contract. That's the market. But I've never had a military buyer regret taking an extra week to get their ducks in a row. I've had plenty regret rushing.
Don't assume you have to buy. Renting for six months or a year while you figure out the area is a completely legitimate plan, especially if your orders are short or you're not sure where you'll PCS next. The Maryland REALTORS® association has good resources on the rent-vs.-buy calculation, and I'm happy to walk you through it for your specific situation—just reach out.
And don't ignore your spouse. I know that sounds like marriage advice, not real estate advice, but I've worked with enough dual-military couples and trailing spouses to know that the person who's not getting the orders often has the harder adjustment. Let them have input on counties, schools, commute, and whether you're buying at all. The house you choose has to work for both of you, and resentment over a unilateral decision will outlast your tour.
Maryland has a few quirks that catch out-of-state buyers off guard.
First, we have county transfer taxes on top of state transfer taxes. They vary. In Harford County, it's lower. In Montgomery County, it's higher. Your lender should build this into your closing cost estimate, but double-check, because I've seen lenders miss it.
Second, Maryland is not a fast-close state by default. Thirty days is doable, but 45 is more common. If your report date is tight, tell your realtor and your lender up front. We can often expedite, but not if we don't know it's a priority until day 28.
Third, if you're buying in DC proper, it's a different ballgame. DC has its own transfer taxes, its own title company norms, and its own inspection timelines. I'm licensed there and happy to work with you, but don't assume a Maryland contract template will fly. It won't.
Fourth, if you're looking at southern Pennsylvania (York or Lancaster County), be aware that PA is a different state with different disclosure rules, different title insurance requirements, and—crucially—different property tax structures. A $350,000 house in Harford County, Maryland, and a $350,000 house in York County, Pennsylvania, will have different monthly carrying costs once you factor in taxes and insurance. Ask.
And if you're even thinking about Delaware (New Castle County), reach out early. Delaware has low property taxes and no sales tax, which makes it appealing, but the commute to most Maryland or DC installations is brutal unless you're assigned to Dover or Delaware-adjacent roles. I'm licensed there, but I'll also tell you honestly if it doesn't make sense for your duty station.
Once you've got your timeline, your BAH, your county shortlist, your lender, and your realtor, then you can start looking at houses.
If you're able to fly out for a house-hunting trip, great. I'll block off a weekend, line up showings in your target areas, and we'll see as much as we can. If you're overseas or can't travel, I'll do video walkthroughs and FaceTime showings. It's not ideal, but I've closed deals that way and the buyers were happy.
You'll also want to start thinking about timing. If your report date is late September or October, you're landing right in what I've been calling Maryland's late-August sweet spot—inventory is still decent, rates have come down a bit, and seller panic hasn't fully set in yet. If your report date is January, you're buying in a slower season, which has pros and cons.
Either way, the work you do in the first 72 hours will determine whether the next 72 days are smooth or chaotic.
Military buyers have always had tight timelines. But the last two years have added new layers.
We've got the NAR settlement changing how buyer agent compensation works, which means you need to have an explicit conversation with your realtor about how they're getting paid and whether you're signing a buyer agreement. (You should. It protects both of us.)
We've got a market where pending sales are down even as rates fall, which tells me buyers are being more cautious. That's not bad—it's smart—but it means the old advice of "just offer asking price and you'll be fine" doesn't always hold.
And we've got a post-pandemic housing stock that's still tight in the counties closest to the major bases, which means good homes in Harford County near APG or Anne Arundel near Meade go fast when they're priced right.
None of that is a reason to panic. It's just a reason to start strong.
I taught high school for over 20 years before I became a realtor. I'm used to breaking down complex processes into steps people can actually follow. That's what this checklist is.
PCS moves are stressful. I'm not going to pretend they're not. But if you spend the first 72 hours getting organized instead of spinning your wheels, the rest of the process gets a whole lot easier.
And if you're moving to Fort Meade, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Joint Base Andrews, or anywhere in the Maryland-DC-Pennsylvania-Delaware corridor, I'd be honored to help. I've done this dozens of times. I know the bases, the counties, the lenders, the timelines, and the mistakes to avoid.
Reach out when you're ready. Or even before you're ready. Sometimes the best thing I do for a military family is just answer questions for 20 minutes on a phone call before they've even started packing.
Welcome to the region. Let's find you a house that actually feels like home.
Katrina Kirton Sherrod, REALTOR® · Samson Properties · Licensed in MD, DC, PA & DE · 443-616-9770 · Katrina@kkstherealtor.com
“Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real estate.” — Andrew Carnegie