If you have PCS orders from F.E. Warren and own a home in Cheyenne, you have three realistic choices: list it with an agent, keep it as a rental from your next duty station, or sell it for cash on a closing date you pick. A listed sale usually takes two to three months, which is most of a normal PCS window. A cash sale to House Buyers of Cheyenne can close in as little as 7 days with no commissions or closing costs. If you have already reported, the walkthrough happens by video and the deed is signed with a remote notary.
We are House Buyers of Cheyenne, a family-run local buyer with an office downtown on 17th Street, a few miles from the base gate. This guide covers the real timeline, the tradeoffs, selling after you have left, the military capital gains rule, your VA loan, and a checklist. We are not a military organization, just neighbors who want you to get this right.
How Much Time Do You Really Have Between Orders and Your Report Date?
For a typical Air Force move, orders are usually authenticated within about 120 days of your projected departure date, and assignment notice often comes only a few months before your report date. Short-notice assignments compress that further. Inside that window you also out-process, book household goods pickup, clear housing, and house-hunt. Now stack that against a traditional listing.
| Stage of a listed sale | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Cleaning, repairs, photos, going live | 1 to 3 weeks |
| On the market until an accepted offer | A month or two in Cheyenne, depending on price and season |
| Under contract to closing | 30 to 45 days for the buyer's loan |
| Total | Usually 2 to 3 months, longer if a buyer walks |
That assumes nothing goes wrong. A failed inspection, a low appraisal, or a collapsed loan puts you back at the start, now from a base a thousand miles away. The calendar, not the price, usually decides which option is realistic.
What Are My Options for a Cheyenne House When I PCS?
Option 1: List with a real estate agent
The right call when you have three months or more, the house shows well, and top price matters more than speed. You pay commissions plus your share of closing costs, handle whatever the inspection turns up, and risk a deal collapsing after you have left town.
Option 2: Keep it and rent it from your next station
Renting can make sense if the numbers work after a property manager's cut or you expect to return to Warren. Be honest about the rest: vacancies, a furnace that dies in January, tenant turnover from another time zone, taxable rent, and depreciation that gets taxed back when you sell. Part of your VA entitlement stays tied up in the house, though you may still have enough left for a VA loan at your next station. Our guide on selling a Cheyenne rental covers the exit.
Option 3: Sell for cash to a local buyer
This is what we do. We buy as-is, you pay no commissions, closing costs, or fees, you get a written offer within 24 hours, and we close in as little as 7 days or on the date that fits your orders. The tradeoff is real: a cash offer is generally below what a fully repaired home might fetch after a longer wait on the market. Our cash buyer vs. realtor comparison breaks that math down.
| Option | Speed and cost to you | Certainty and hassle |
|---|---|---|
| List with an agent | 2 to 3 months or more. Commissions, closing costs, and repairs. | Medium certainty, since a loan or inspection can sink the deal. High hassle: showings and repairs from out of state. |
| Rent it out | No exit date. Manager fees, vacancies, repairs, and taxes on rent. | Depends on the tenant. Hassle that runs for years. |
| Sell for cash | 7 days, or the date you pick. $0 in commissions, closing costs, or fees. | High certainty, no financing contingency. Low hassle: one video walkthrough, sign remotely. |
Can I Sell My Cheyenne House After I Have Already Reported to My New Base?
Yes. Three tools make it work.
A video walkthrough instead of a showing
We make offers from a phone-camera walkthrough on FaceTime or Zoom. You, your spouse, or a neighbor with a key walks the house room by room. Boxes, empty rooms, and a full garage are all fine.
Remote or mobile notary for the deed
Wyoming has allowed remote online notarization since July 1, 2021, so a notary located in Wyoming can notarize your deed over a recorded video session while you sit in Montana, North Dakota, or Germany. Prefer paper? A mobile notary near your new base works too. The title company, TownSquare Title of Wyoming, coordinates the signing and wires your proceeds wherever you bank.
A limited power of attorney if you cannot sign at all
If you will be deployed or in training on closing day, a limited (special) power of attorney lets your spouse or another trusted person sign for this one property. The 90th Missile Wing Legal Office on base, (307) 773-2256, prepares and notarizes powers of attorney at no cost for eligible members and dependents, and federal law (10 U.S.C. 1044b) requires every state to honor a military power of attorney. Wyoming lets a power to convey land be recorded with the county clerk, so the title company records it with the deed at the Laramie County Clerk.
Will I Owe Capital Gains Tax If I Sell Because of a PCS?
For most families, no. Under Section 121 of the federal tax code you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain on your main home, or $500,000 married filing jointly, if you owned and lived in it as your main home for at least two of the five years before the sale.
The military suspension of the two-of-five-year rule
If you are on qualified official extended duty, you can choose to pause that five-year lookback for up to 10 years. Qualified official extended duty means serving at a duty station at least 50 miles from the home, or living in government quarters under orders, for more than 90 days or an indefinite period. Nearly every PCS out of F.E. Warren qualifies.
In plain words: you bought in 2017, lived there until a 2019 PCS, rented it out, and sell in 2026. Without the suspension the five-year window is 2021 to 2026, you never lived there during it, and the gain is taxable. With the suspension the clock stopped in 2019, the window still reaches your two years there, and the exclusion applies, provided you stayed on qualified extended duty from 2019 until the sale, since the pause covers only that time. The suspension plus the normal window cannot exceed 15 years, you can pause only one property at a time, and you make the election on the return for the year of sale.
If you owned the home less than two years
You may still get a partial exclusion. The IRS prorates it for a work-related move when your new work location is at least 50 miles farther from the home than your old one, which almost any PCS out of Warren clears.
Wyoming keeps the rest simple: no state income tax, no capital gains tax, no transfer tax. Two cautions. Depreciation you claimed as a landlord is taxed when you sell regardless of the exclusion. And this is not tax advice. Talk to a tax professional who works with military families, and read our guide to capital gains tax when selling a house in Wyoming.
What Happens to My VA Loan When I Sell?
Your VA loan is paid off at closing like any other mortgage. The title company orders a payoff statement, pays the loan from the sale proceeds, records the lien release, and wires you the rest. VA loans carry no prepayment penalty. If you owe more than the house is worth, read our guide on selling a house with a mortgage or underwater in Wyoming first.
Getting your entitlement back
Once the loan is paid in full and the home is sold, your VA entitlement is restored. VA Form 26-1880 updates your Certificate of Eligibility, and most lenders submit it with your next application. You can also pull your Certificate of Eligibility on VA.gov to check remaining entitlement before you house-hunt. Restoration has two exceptions. If you keep the house and refinance the VA loan into a conventional loan, you can restore entitlement without selling, but only once. And if a buyer assumes your VA loan, your entitlement stays tied up unless that buyer is an eligible veteran who substitutes their own.
How Do I Time the Sale to My Report Date?
Work backward from the day you leave. With a cash sale you pick the closing date, so it can land the week after household goods pickup, the day before you drive out, or two weeks after you report.
If the house will sit empty after you leave, tell your insurer. Most homeowner policies restrict coverage once a house has been vacant for 30 to 60 days, and a Cheyenne winter with the heat off is how pipes burst. Our guide to selling a vacant house in Cheyenne covers it. Then run this list.
- Pin your dates. Report-no-later-than date, projected departure, household goods pickup, final out.
- Call your lender. Get a payoff estimate so you know your real equity.
- Choose a lane in week one. List, rent, or sell for cash. Waiting a month can mean two housing payments.
- Visit the base legal office. If either spouse might be gone on closing day, get a limited power of attorney for the property notarized there.
- Compare net proceeds, not headline prices. A written cash offer against an agent's net sheet, after commissions, closing costs, repairs, and months of payments.
- Set the closing date around your departure. That date drives everything else.
- Line up remote signing. Give the title company your ID, forwarding address, and wire instructions early.
- Notify insurance and utilities. Keep heat on through closing and give the title company final meter dates.
- Keep the closing statement. You need it to figure your gain and claim the Section 121 exclusion on your return.
Get Your Free, No-Obligation Cash Offer
If orders just dropped and you want a real number for your Cheyenne or Laramie County home, request your cash offer and you will have a written, no-obligation offer within 24 hours.
Prefer to talk first? Call or text Adrian at (307) 274-6014, seven days a week. If listing or renting is the better move for your family, we will say so. Straight answers cost nothing.