What is a House Hunting Trip (HHT) for a 14 Wing Greenwood posting?
A House Hunting Trip is the funded trip that lets you travel to your new posting location to find a home before you move. For Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP members it is administered under the Integrated Relocation Program (IRP) — the program most people still call BGRS, and which now operates as SIRVA (BGRS/SIRVA). Your relocation file, entitlements and claims all flow through that same system.
In practical terms, an HHT is a short, high-pressure window — commonly around five days including travel — in which you are expected to view homes, choose one, negotiate, and ideally leave with an accepted offer. Every day you lose to logistics is a day you don't get back. That is the entire reason this guide exists.
How does a 14 Wing HHT actually work, step by step?
It works in three stages: authorization, search, and firm-up. Your relocation file is opened after your posting message, you complete your BGRS/SIRVA planning session, your HHT is authorized with travel and accommodation entitlements, and only then does the clock start. Once you land, you are searching against a fixed departure date.
- Posting message issued — start talking to a REALTOR® immediately, not after your file opens.
- BGRS/SIRVA planning session — confirm HHT days, travel, accommodation and what the program will reimburse.
- Mortgage pre-approval in writing — not a rate quote, a real pre-approval with a rate hold.
- Pre-trip shortlist — I send video walkthroughs so you arrive knowing which homes are worth your feet.
- Days 1–3 on the ground — viewings clustered by area to protect your driving time.
- Day 3–4 — write the offer, with condition dates that survive your flight home.
- Days 4–5 — inspection booked, lawyer of your choice engaged, deposit instructions confirmed.
What should I do before I fly to Greenwood for my HHT?
Do everything that does not require being physically present — because those are the tasks that quietly eat your five days. Before you fly, you want a written pre-approval, a signed buyer representation arrangement, a shortlist you've already reviewed on video, and inspection and legal contacts on standby.
I hold inspection slots in advance for HHT clients. In the Annapolis Valley during the spring Active Posting Season, a good home inspector can be booked out a week or more — and an inspection you can't get inside your condition window is the single most common reason an HHT offer collapses.
- Written mortgage pre-approval with a rate hold and a stated maximum.
- Your BGRS/SIRVA file number and the name of your relocation coordinator.
- A real must-have list separated from your nice-to-have list.
- Deposit funds accessible — deposits are typically due within 24 hours of acceptance.
- The name of a lawyer of your choice, or ask me for the local names I trust.
How many homes should I view during a House Hunting Trip?
Plan on eight to twelve homes in person, not thirty. Beyond about a dozen showings, families stop comparing and start blurring — I have watched it happen for twenty years. My job is to cut the list before you arrive, using video walkthroughs and honest commentary about the homes that photograph better than they live.
We cluster viewings geographically — Greenwood one block of time, Kingston another, Middleton and rural properties another — so you're evaluating homes instead of driving between them.
What's the difference between buying in Greenwood village and buying rural?
Village homes are usually on municipal water and sewer; rural homes have a private well, a septic system and often wood heat. That difference is the biggest single factor in how fast your HHT purchase can go firm, because rural properties need water flow and potability testing, a septic evaluation and a WETT inspection on any wood appliance — and those bookings and lab results take days, not hours.
None of that should scare you off rural living. Much of the Valley's best value is outside the village boundaries. It simply means we write a longer condition period into your offer, and I book every test the day the offer is accepted.
How fast can I get a home inspection in the Annapolis Valley?
Same week if we plan ahead, and sometimes next day — but only if I have your dates before you land. During Active Posting Season the good inspectors here fill quickly, and out-of-province buyers who wait until after acceptance to start calling routinely lose two or three days.
I send an email introducing you directly to the inspector of your choice so you can supply your relocation file details and arrange payment with them directly. You do not need to be present at the inspection — I attend, take photographs and video, and we review the findings together by phone or video call.
What condition dates should be in an HHT offer?
Condition dates must be achievable from a distance, after you have flown home. That means a financing condition your lender can actually meet, an inspection date that reflects real Valley booking times, and — on rural properties — enough runway for well water lab results and a septic evaluation.
I also put your Condition Removal Date at the top of every letter and summary I send you, along with the deposit deadline from the Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Deposits are typically due within 24 hours of acceptance, and that clock does not pause because you are on a plane.
What happens with insurance when I'm buying on an HHT?
Get your insurance conversation started early, and know that it becomes far easier once your home inspection is done. Insurers ask about the roof age, the electrical panel, the heat sources, any oil tank and any wood appliance — and after the inspection you have documented answers instead of guesses.
On rural properties, a current WETT certificate for a wood stove or wood furnace is frequently the last item standing between you and bound coverage. I flag that on day one so it is never a closing-week surprise.
What if I don't find a home during my HHT?
You are not stuck, and you should never buy the wrong house because the trip is ending. If nothing fits, we shift to a remote search: I keep sending video walkthroughs, I write offers on your behalf with appropriate conditions, and we look at short-term rental or interim housing options so you arrive with a roof over your family regardless.
Plenty of my military clients have bought their Valley home without ever standing in it before the inspection. It works because the due diligence is real and because I tell you the truth about what I'm walking through.
Who is the best REALTOR® for a 14 Wing Greenwood relocation?
I'm Karen Mofford, a REALTOR® with Royal LePage Atlantic based in Greenwood, minutes from the 14 Wing gates. I've spent 20+ years in real estate transactions — first as a real estate paralegal, now as your advocate — and 35 years inside the Canadian military community, so BGRS/SIRVA timelines, posting messages and HHT pressure are not new territory for me.
Call or text me at (902) 840-3599. If you're posted in for the spring, the best day to start is the day your message drops — not the week you fly.