5 Mistakes CAF Families Make When Posted to Ottawa — And How to Avoid Every One

I've been through a posting myself — from Kanata to Colorado Springs and back again. I know what it feels like to stare at a posting message and try to figure out where to even begin. And I've now guided enough CAF families through Ottawa HHTs to know which mistakes keep showing up.

These five mistakes are preventable. Every one of them. The families who avoid them land in Ottawa settled, confident, and in the right home. The ones who don't spend the first year wondering what they should have done differently.

Mistake 1: Choosing a REALTOR® Who Doesn't Actually Know the IRP

This is the most expensive mistake on the list — and the most common.

Every REALTOR® in Ottawa will tell you they "work with military families." Very few actually understand the Integrated Relocation Program well enough to protect you during an HHT.

Here's the test. Ask your REALTOR® this question: "What is a substantiating document and how do you prepare one?"

If they hesitate, look it up, or give you a vague answer — find someone else. A substantiating document is the comparable sales evidence your REALTOR® prepares and uploads to the BGRS/SIRVA portal to justify your purchase price under the IRP. Get this wrong and your file gets flagged. Get it really wrong and it can affect your claim.

Mistake 2: Deciding on a Neighbourhood Based on Listing Photos

Ottawa looks different on a screen than it does through a windshield at 8am on a Tuesday.

I've had families fly into Ottawa absolutely convinced they want to be in Orléans — because they've been looking at beautiful listings near Petrie Island online — and then discover on the drive to DND Carling that the commute is 45 minutes each way. That's a 90-minute daily round trip they didn't plan for.

I've also had families dismiss Barrhaven as "too far from everything" based on a map, then arrive in person and realize it has more amenities than anywhere they've lived.

The listing photos show you the house. They don't show you the school pickup line, the rush hour merge onto the 417, or the 7-minute walk to the rink on a Saturday morning.

Mistake 3: Missing the 5-Day Registration Priority Window

When your posting message lands, your clock starts. The moment you register with BGRS/SIRVA, your 5-day scheduling priority status begins. This is a real deadline with real consequences.

Miss it and you lose priority status. Lose priority status and your HHT planning gets more complicated. In a busy posting season — spring is the busiest — this matters.

I've talked to CAF members who waited two or three weeks to register because life was busy, the message felt overwhelming, and they didn't know where to start. By the time they registered, their priority window had passed and their timeline was compressed.

Mistake 4: Only Planning for the Member's Commute — Not the Spouse's

This one I see constantly and it almost always creates regret.

The posting is for the member. The neighbourhood research focuses on the member's commute to base. The HHT shortlist is built around the member's commute. And then six months after move-in, the spouse is driving 45 minutes each way to their job every day and nobody thought to factor that in.

Ottawa's geography means commute times can vary enormously depending on which direction you're travelling. A home in Kanata is a 15-minute commute to DND Carling and a 40-minute commute to downtown. A home in Orléans is a 20-minute commute to downtown and a 45-minute commute to DND Carling.

Mistake 5: Panic-Buying on Day 5 of the HHT

Day 5 arrives. You haven't found the right house. The clock is ticking. The flights home are booked. And there's a house that's fine — not great, not what you wanted, but fine — and the pressure to make a decision before you leave is overwhelming.

This is the moment families make decisions they regret for years.

Panic-buying on an HHT leads to homes in the wrong neighbourhood, homes with condition issues that weren't properly investigated, and homes that don't actually fit the family's life once they're living in it.

The IRP has provisions for families who don't find a home during their HHT. Temporary housing options exist. Your SIRVA/BGRS advisor can outline the alternatives. A home that doesn't work is a problem that doesn't end on closing day.

One More Thing Nobody Tells You

Ottawa is a genuinely excellent city to be posted to. The schools are good. The neighbourhoods are safe. The real estate market has historically been stable. The cost of living is manageable compared to Toronto or Vancouver. And the city has real outdoor lifestyle options — the Ottawa River, the Rideau Canal, the Gatineau Hills — that CAF families with kids tend to love.

The families who come in prepared — who've done the neighbourhood research, have the right REALTOR®, understand their budget, and have both commutes mapped out — almost always leave their HHT with a home they're happy with. The preparation isn't complicated. It just requires doing it before you land.