Joining the RAF & finances - when/if to sell house etc.

[ASecretLemonadeDrinker]

DH is (hoping to) join the RAF and we need to get ourselves in order before he does. He will be going from £30,000+ to the training wage of around £13,000, then to about £17,500. Obviously we will not be able to afford the mortgage, and we cannot rent out because the rent won't cover the mortgage, besides our mortgage company has said no, we need a buy to let mortgage. I don't want to sell until we know 110% he is in - after graduation are they then 'placed'? Is it straight away? We are hoping he can take holiday pay for the pre recruitment training - are they allowed to stay in employment between this and initial training? We are hoping to have enough put by to make up the shortfall between him quitting his job (whenever that is into the process) and selling...

How did anyone else manage the 'leap'? I cannot risk selling now incase he doesn't make it - we just won't get another mortgage, but in that bit before he is placed it's going to be tighter than tight. I can't work even for the short term because I have a 4 yo, a 2 yo and 12 w/o and obviously no DH to look after them while I work evenings or something

I'm just going out but didn't want to leave you unanswered, this is the exact position we were in two years ago!!

Will sit down tomorrow and reply properly!

You should be able to discuss with the mortgage comp that dh is in the RAF and they should let you have a normal mortgage as long as it's your only property.

This is what happened with our house and we just had to tell them we're in the forces and that it was our only house and we were going to move into quarters and they let us have a normal non-buy-to-let.

Ask, in the interim, if you can take the minimum mortgage holiday to just cover the period before he's placed.

your nest bet will be to stay in the house yourself until he has passed both basic training AND his professional training - whatever that is. he won't get a posting/ assignment order until he reaches this stage anyway.

he won't be able to be employed by someone else AND be in the RAF - at all times during your career you need special authority from whoever your officer commanding is to be earning a second wage, holiday pay or no - and i wouldn't expect anyone in basic training to have any other employer tbh. (if he wants to organise a 'if i fail can i come back' arrangement with his current employer, then that would be a suitable safety net)

you won't be entitled to a quarter unless he is expected to be at a a camp longer than 6 months in any case.

timelines are difficult to gauge - if he is joining as an airman or an officer - where and how frequently the professional training is - what the professional trg is and how long it takes to complete etc etc - all of this is dependent on which branch/ trade he is joining, some professional training is much longer than others. for some trades/ branches there may be a period of 'holding' - (essentially waiting around doing unskilled jobs or gaining experience) if the prof courses only run infrequently.

there is also the possibility that he might be injured and back-coursed (reasonably common), fail a particular element and be back-coursed (also fairly common) etc etc, none of which can be planned for. there is also the possibility that he might fail his professional training and have to choose another trade - in which case he will be back at the beginning of professional training for that trade, extending the timeline.

i would speak again with your mortgage lender in the manner lucie suggests, but i wouldn't be planning anything final tbh - there's a long way to go yet!

hope it all goes well.

Yikes. I don't think renting out will cover the mortgage, besides it is leasehold and I'd rather let it go. At what point to people quit their jobs? Is it when they get a training date? Before or after then the smaller training (the names of everything have totally escaped me )- the one before initial. pre recruitment training? If he fails at the end we are going to be pretty screwed, but I guess that's the risk we have to take. Company I doubt will take him back in this climate, we will have sold the house, I'll have to stay with my mum during training I guess and hope he gets in! I cannot think if he has trade training, depends on what job he can do based on the apt. test etc. I guess - he wanted to do WSOp but could only cram in 3 of the 5 GCSEs needed and the RAF AFCO said just join and they will help him get the other 2 (but I guess they mean work up), so is now thinking police (which has recently been open but closed after about 48 hours) or gunner. I think we will just have to throw caution to the wind and hope it all turns out OK in the end, or we will be homeless and jobless

OK. I would second the point about asking re the mortgage. Dh is in the RADF (and I am ex-RAF). When we moved from our property because he was posted, the mortgage company allowed us to keep it on a residential mortgage, even though we put tenants in it. My understanding is this depends on the company though, and they are within their rights to say no (you could threaten them with Daily Mail style publicity )

He is not going to be allowed to employed by anyone else whilst in training,so will have to time he finish day at work with the start of training, so his last pay packet come at the beginning of that period IFYSWIM.

Also, as already mentioned, it would better for you to stay put whilst he does his recruitment training and then his specialist training, to avoid being moved from pillar to post. Once he has finished his specialist training then he will be given a permanent post and it is def worth moving. He will definitely do specialist/trade training, but how long it is depends on the trade. Engineers are over a year, for example, but most trades a lot less. WSOP is very competitive, so he will have to do well internally within the service to be selected - but not impossible. Gunner less so - but obviously challenges for the family given the role he will have.

DH is in the RAF.

I don't want to be doom and gloom, but is he really sure he wants to do this? Are you as a family?

The mortgage situation is difficult. Dh is in teh RN and we bought a house last year which we can't (for service reasons) live in for 12 months. One company (Santander) gave us a mortgage at a much higher rate that others.

But have you thought about the time he will spend away? the money will increase in time, but it doesn't go up that much!

My name is a bit out of date, but DH spent 8 months of the last 12 in the middle east. He flew home for one week (he paid, not the RN). He had some leave, is working on a temp appointment near where we are. I have just been told he is going to be sent for 2 years to a job 2 hours from where we are. I won't be following (disruption to children, and I need my job for my sanity). I am not full of the joys of spring at the moment, but that is the reality of life in the services.

I can see how wsop would be 'high demand' - he doesnt have the grades so it's off the table really, despite the fact he volunteers for hampshire search & rescue (well, there's a small link ) He's not the best at all the aptitude stuff either, so being realistic we are looking at gunner. His trainer says he is ready now to apply (army pti/para) which was quite sudden, so I am in a mad rush to sort the DSs and finances. Will there be any time he doesn't get paid? Between training courses etc?

We are beyond 100% sure. He has worked his arse off this year doing 2 jobs, training, college. I am not worried about finances once we are settled, it's the limbo between him quitting his jobs, selling the house and starting after training. Ideally I guess we would have a chunk of savings but we are at the point now we want to stop dilly dallying (he is 28 now) and do it. It won't be easy with 3 young DSs, but as long as the outcome is him in the RAF and not us all out on the street I'll cope

We are beyond 100% sure. He has worked his arse off this year doing 2 jobs, training, college. I am not worried about finances once we are settled, it's the limbo between him quitting his jobs, selling the house and starting after training. Ideally I guess we would have a chunk of savings but we are at the point now we want to stop dilly dallying (he is 28 now) and do it. It won't be easy with 3 young DSs, but as long as the outcome is him in the RAF and not us all out on the street I'll cope

No, if he gets in then he will a full time member of the RAF and paid all the time.

Unless, as mentioned, he gets injured during training - if he didn't respond to rehab then he would eventually have to leave. That is unlikely to happen during basic training as although it is a bit physical, if he is fit then it should be fine. The gunner training, however, is very physically demanding and there will be a number who do not make it through.

RAF Regiment will be demanding on you as a fmaily though.

at what point is he 'in' - starting pre recruitment training?

Injury scares me - he is already on a 5 day training break because he did something to his hamstring during hillwork

I would have thought so - tbh, neither DH of I did 'pre' recruitment training. Just turned up on a given day with a whole load of other people and started fulltime recruit training.

The RAF careers office would def be able to tell hime though if he rings them with that specific query.

quite - he will be given a date to start his full time basic training - from that point he will be paid full time. no breaks. until he is discharged (whether that's one week or twenty years later).

he will not be allowed to be employed by anyone else at this point. at all. as a gunner the opportunities for secondary employment are fairly thin (not usually shift work afaik, so no 4 days off to drive a forklift etc)

i don't really understand what the pre-training is... sorry. they are expected to do a lot of prep before they turn up, but afaik none of this is paid - there are days here and there as part of the selection criteria where they can claim certain travel allowances etc i think.

when he receives his start date for basic training is the point he should hand in his notice at work, to finish the day before.

you might also want to give a small mn shout-out to username 'wingdad' if you have specific gunner q's.