When it comes to looking for apartments, try apartment.com or forrent.com. Both web sites give you good info on different places, and you can see what the floorplans look like, what the community has to offer, etc. After I was commissioned, I was stashed in Jacksonville before I moved to Pensacola. I found my place in Pensacola online, and had everything set up without ever setting a foot in the place. However, if you can get house hunting leave, go for it, it's 10 free days of leave, might as well use it.