I really don't mean to be Debbie Downer, but selling your house seems like not a great idea. It's a good problem to have to need to deal with selling it after you pass as opposed to not passing and having nowhere to go after. The pass rates are still hovering around 50%-60%. Even once you get to your facility it's recommended not to buy a house until you CPC. This has nothing to do with doubting anyone's talent or dedication, just the reality that anyone can fail and you want to have something to fall back to within reason.
I'm sure realtors sell properties with out of state owners fairly regularly. You wouldn't be the first. With the belongings part, you have I think up to 8 days of Change of station leave, so you could try and use a good chunk of that in the beginning to move your stuff out and into storage or hire someone to do it. I realize the OKC salary won't cover your mortgage, but it's only 3-4 months you'd have to dig into savings to cover the difference, and if you pass you'll be able to make that right up when you sell the house.
Your ATM will work with you. You can report for usually 2 weeks after academy graduation and even then you can take up to 64 hours of PTO Change of station leave once you start at a facility to get things in order.
They're not going to give you two free weeks to report from the Academy olus 64 hours of change of station leave... I guess unless you're taking LWOP.... most people report directly to their facility and use those 64 hours over the course of the two years to find a place and get settled. If you end up in a city you are unfamiliar with, stay in a hotel for two weeks and figure out where you want to live.
I know people who have brought their family and that's totally fine, it gives you comfort and familiarity. The thing that makes me nervous is not having a fall back place to live. If you think you can manage that then go for it, just know you'll be devastated if you don't pass, and having to find housing on top of that will be even tougherI'm dragging them along because they want to come and I don't want to be away from them. Being a single mom of 3 young kids is more difficult than anything the academy can throw at you and any help I can offer in my downtime will be huge.
The real question is whether I'm going to sell before or after the academy. This thread has got me thinking / second-guessing / dreading. I want to take the path of least resistance... and sometimes I think that forgoing the ATC opportunity completely might be the answer.
Anyway, thanks for the advice everyone. I don't mean to hijack the thread with my boring problems.
