Military family life is one of service and sacrifice, often marked by frequent moves that mean uprooting and replanting in new communities. At the heart of these relocations is the Permanent Change of Station (PCS), which presents numerous challenges to servicemembers and their families.
Moving is one of life’s most stressful events, and military PCS is no exception. Families must manage complex bureaucratic requirements, packing and loading, and potentially navigating international brokers if stationed abroad. Of course, there is the financial strain associated with temporary lodging, storage fees, and possibly rehoming pets.
But thankfully, one organization aims to relieve some of that stress, one PCS order at a time.
VeteranPCS, founded by veteran Jason Anderson, is a network of vetted real estate professionals. It offers a program that provides up to $4,000 cashback to clients to assist with moving costs and donates another 10% to charity.
His brokerage, Solid Oak Realty, caters to families in the Colorado Springs area, whether they’re military or civilian, and outside of that area, he refers clients to other agents under the VeteranPCS umbrella. But these agents don’t need to work for his brokerage to participate in his referral network — it’s in place to meet a glaring need within the military service community. Any real estate professional who agrees to participate in the cash-back program is a military veteran with either an honorable or medical discharge or is a military spouse and passes his organization’s vetting is eligible to join the network.
Anderson joined the military in 2012 as an Army aviation officer flying AH-64D Apache helicopters. Before returning to civilian life, he served in South Korea, Fort Liberty, and Fort Carson. He also had a combat deployment to Afghanistan and a tour to Eastern Europe. During his military career, he accumulated over 1,000 flight hours as a Platoon Leader and Troop Commander.
Anderson says, “‘Mission first, people always,’ was a core belief in the military and is now the root of VeteranPCS. My time in the Army as a leader and combat aviator was some of the best years of my life and truly shaped my character, work ethic, and integrity. It was demanding and challenging nearly every day, but flying the Apache helicopter was a hell of a good time.”
He also says his military service is a major factor in his success as an entrepreneur. Because of that, he was no stranger to adversity and was ready to take on the challenge of launching not one but two ventures at the same time — his brokerage, Solid Oak Realty, and the VeteranPCS referral network. Of course, this meant he had to divide his resources between the two, making things more difficult for him, but he knew it was the right choice.
“When a service member goes through a PCS, it’s often chaotic and stressful because they still have a job to do, so a lot of the moving process typically falls to the spouse,” he explained. “I know how that goes because I’ve been through it a few times, so I knew I could help some of my fellow service members, but I couldn’t help all of them, so I chose to start the referral network at the same time. This enabled me to leverage the power of my network to help more service members than I could on my own.”
When Anderson first entered the real estate industry, he didn’t have the capital to buy leads, so he had to find other ways to drum up business. There weren’t many good options available for new agents, who are forced to either bother friends and family for introductions or purchase expensive leads, which are typically resold to multiple agents — rendering them virtually useless.
Growing the VeteranPCS network meant he could help more clients, send business to other real estate agents who are also veterans, give money back to military homebuyers, and even donate to veteran causes.
Anderson said, “I designed VeteranPCS so that it has no upfront monthly or yearly fees for agents, is free for clients to use, and then part of the profits from every sale go back to the military family after closing. We also donate an additional 10% to a military-focused charity to support our military community. Our website is more than just a place to find an agent. You are also supporting veteran and military spouse businesses, and supporting military focused charities with your move.”
He built VeteranPCS with the mission: Military Families Helping Military Families Move.
And he’s always thinking big, sharing that he wants to eliminate the stress of moving for active duty service members, with a vision of serving more than 10,000 military families every year, which in the process will mean $10 million given back to service members while also supporting thousands of veterans and military spouses in real estate.
Anderson gives back in other ways, too.
Later this summer, he will be among some of the top experts in the real estate industry, including Kim Kiyosaki, Dr. David Phelps, and Lori Greymont, speaking at Johns Hopkins School of Business to empower students as well as professionals already in the industry by sharing his insight. This is an important community service that reaches far beyond the campus to help real estate professionals thrive through today’s chaotic and uncertain real estate market.
Students from the university’s MS in Real Estate & Infrastructure program, as well as hand-selected local real estate professionals, will have an opportunity to attend and hear these experts speak on the state of the economy and the real estate market, what to expect over the coming years, and how to thrive in the industry despite today’s unique challenges. This panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A session and a meet and greet with the experts.
With the turmoil bearing down on the real estate industry today, driven by inflation, skyrocketing prices, climbing interest rates, and the recent NAR settlement, to name just a few factors, professionals are now facing tremendous challenges that haven’t been seen in decades.
The in-person portion of the event will be held on June 25th, from 4:00-6:30 PM EST, at the university’s Bloomberg Center at 555 Pennsylvania Ave NW, on its Washington D.C. campus (Rooms 426-430). It will also be live-streamed to YouTube for remote attendees. Those interested in attending can register for the event via the university’s Eventbrite page.
It’s clear that Anderson’s commitment to service didn’t end after leaving active duty.
More than just a way to help active duty service members move, VeteranPCS is a valuable resource for service members, making each PCS a step forward in their military journey rather than a hurdle.
