Comments on: Buying a house on per diem

By: cmriff

cmriff — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 04:32:22 +0000

I will be moving back to DC for language training and was thinking about buying a house and using the per diem towards mortgage interest, however, was told that it had to be my second home in order to do this. Does anyone know if this is correct?
Thanks,

By: irisheyes97

irisheyes97 — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:28:55 +0000

What is defined as “legitimate”? I’ve been out of work for many months (still searching) and am moving home (out of the DC area) to cut down on expenses/spend time with my family/keep job searching in the (very happy) event I do get the call. This is something I would have done without per diem. Could I be denied this benefit for this reason?

By: The Hegemonist

The Hegemonist — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:40:21 +0000

This is a phenomenal post. I’m going on on long-term language TDY soon and have been thinking about doing the same thing. Can you recommend any specific AskAdmin articles that go into more depth about what does and doesn’t count, etc.? Thanks!

By: reluctant_seminole

reluctant_seminole — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:33:30 +0000

Thanks! I figured.

If you’re coming from more than 50 miles away, do you get locality pay and per diem while in A-100? I have seen conflicting reports.

By: dino

dino — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 10:55:54 +0000

Unless the rules have changed, the sliding scale does not/not change when you get assigned to language training – nor does locality pay kick in for local hires (I was, when hired, the lowest-paid FS generalist starting at the lowest grade and class with no locality pay and no per diem). Since you don’t find out your training schedule until about seven weeks in, you’ll need to plan for all possibilities. I’ve not personally done it, but the deal with the Oakwood Apartments allow you to stay for up to a year on per diem – otherwise most people are able to negotiate six-month leases in DC and move after the heady $200/day rates expire.

By: reluctant_seminole

reluctant_seminole — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:18:57 +0000

Does anyone know whether the sliding per diem scale start the first day at A-100 or does it reset when you get assigned to language training?

By: joeking

joeking — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 20:41:40 +0000

If you are moving back to DC to start A-100 then you’ll have travel orders authorizing travel and per diem, and therefore you won’t be a local hire. Also, remember that per diem drops after 1 or 2 months in DC.

By: missalison

missalison — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 20:38:48 +0000

Makes sense, thanks. The whole per diem concept is new to me, so I’m trying to gather info. Although I do have to point out that the daily meal allowance alone amounts to more than the salary of my last job – hopefully someday I’ll be in a position to shrug that off as “just a few thousand bucks.”

By: dino

dino — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 07:12:14 +0000

You’ll have to talk to your HR tech (and you might smooth the way by registering your new address with them), because they make the determiniation if you’re within the 50-mile range. There was a guy in my A-100 class who lived in Frederick, MD, and had to make the LONG commute each day because he was at 49.5 miles or something like that. However, another friend who had been a trailing spouse was counted as a non-local hire, even though she was at FSI already, because they were on post-to-post orders (if memory serves she actually went out to post for a week before turning around and coming back). In the end, I think this is one of those rare spots where common sense actually prevails: if you legitimately moved away from DC, you shouldn’t have an issue. If you’re moving away just to get a few thousand bucks per diem, they’ll end up doing the right thing and denying it.

By: missalison

missalison — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:35:21 +0000

On a related topic, what determines if one is a local hire who qualifies for per diem or not? I was living in Washington at the time I first submitted my application, but will be moving away from the city this year. Do you know what would be required to “prove” that I have to relocate back to DC, in terms of a lease or a certain number of months at a new address? It’s likely a moot point, but I don’t want to get screwed just because of poor timing.

Thanks!