Buying a Home in the Augusta, GA Area: Downtown and the Hill, Evans, Martinez, Grovetown, Harlem and Out to Clarks Hill Lake

Augusta still runs on a canal that was dug in 1845. Water comes off the Savannah River at the headgates in Savannah Rapids Park, in Martinez, and flows down past the old mill district into downtown. By the 1880s it was turning eight textile mills. Three of them still make electricity from it today, and the city still draws its drinking water out of it. The National Park Service calls it the oldest continuously operating hydropower canal in the United States, and in 1996 Congress made it Georgia's first National Heritage Area (National Park Service). The Confederate Powderworks stood along it, the only buildings the Confederate government ever built, and the towpath beside the water runs from the headgates all the way to 13th Street downtown (Augusta Canal).

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in Georgia through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. My office is in Bluffton, South Carolina, so what I've written about the Augusta area comes from the public record, with the source cited beside each fact that matters, and it was checked on October 3, 2026. On the Georgia side of the Augusta area, you are choosing among downtown Augusta and the Hill in Richmond County, Evans, Martinez, Grovetown and Harlem in Columbia County, and the smaller towns of Waynesboro, Thomson and Lincolnton. Fort Gordon is right beside Grovetown, and the lake begins past Appling. This page stays on the Georgia bank of the river. Augusta's city limit is the Savannah River itself, and North Augusta and Aiken are across it in South Carolina, with a different tax code and a different insurance market, so the South Carolina page is where those start. The places come first below, then what is being built, the roads, the schools, the hospitals and the post, and after that the things worth looking up on any address before you compare it with another.

The words locals use

You will hear CSRA before you hear "metro Augusta." It stands for Central Savannah River Area, the local name for the region on both sides of the river, and it dates to 1950, when a Jefferson County educator named C.C. McCollum won a $250 contest run by The Augusta Chronicle to name the area (WRDW). Augusta's own nickname is the Garden City, picked in the early 1900s for the city's large private gardens (City of Augusta). The Hill is the Summerville neighborhood northwest of downtown. Bobby Jones is I-520, the Bobby Jones Expressway, named for the amateur golfer who founded Augusta National. Clarks Hill is what people on the Georgia side call Lake Strom Thurmond. Masters week is the first full week of April, and locals use it as a unit of time, as in "after Masters."

Evans and Martinez have no city government of their own. They are unincorporated communities that the Census Bureau counts as census-designated places, so there is no Evans city hall and no Martinez city tax (Wikipedia: Evans, Georgia). The Army post is Fort Gordon again. It became Fort Eisenhower in October 2023, the last of nine posts renamed that year, and it kept that name for less than two years. In 2025 the name went back to Fort Gordon, this time honoring Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, a Medal of Honor recipient killed in the Battle of Mogadishu on October 3, 1993 (WRDW, The Augusta Press).

Each part of the Augusta area

Downtown Augusta and Broad Street

The biggest thing going up downtown is the new Augusta arena, on the site of the demolished James Brown Arena. It is a roughly $250 million building with 10,500 seats, 12 suites and a new connector to the Bell Auditorium. Officials called it on time and on budget in May 2026, and the reported opening is fall 2027, when the Augusta Lynx, a hockey club founded in 2025, plan to start ECHL play there (WRDW, May 7, 2026). On the 600 block of Broad Street, several existing buildings are being renovated into 40 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments with about 3,000 square feet of retail, with completion reported for December 2026 (WRDW). On the 1100 block, demolition began in January 2026 for a new hotel next to the Augusta Candle Co. (WRDW). The city is also rebuilding Broad Street itself between 15th and 5th Streets, a reported $42 million project with redesigned street parking, raised bike lanes, new sidewalks and work on the James Brown plaza (City of Augusta).

The older downtown is still in use. The Imperial Theatre at 749 Broad Street opened in 1918 with 853 seats and is the only historic theatre still operating downtown (Imperial Theatre). The Augusta Museum of History on Reynolds Street was founded in 1937, and it runs the Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson on Seventh Street, a National Historic Landmark (Augusta Museum of History). Sacred Heart, built in 1898 as a Catholic church, now works as an arts and events center on Greene Street (Sacred Heart Cultural Center).

The canal corridor: Harrisburg and Laney-Walker

The mill neighborhoods along the canal are where Augusta's own long-run revitalization effort is focused. Laney-Walker and Bethlehem together cover about 1,100 acres, the city's plan for them runs on a 50-year horizon, and Augusta received a $450,000 HUD Choice Neighborhoods planning grant for the area in 2021 (City of Augusta). The city's Housing and Community Development department also runs homebuyer help tied to this part of town, a Homebuyer Subsidy Program and a Homeownership Assistance Program, if you are buying your first home (Augusta HCD). The amounts and the rules change, so please confirm what is open with that department before you count on it, and I can help you fit it into a loan if it applies to you. The Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History stands on Phillips Street, and Springfield Village Park on Jones Street holds Richard Hunt's Tower of Aspiration sculpture beside Springfield Baptist Church (Augusta DDA).

Summerville, the Hill

The Hill got its name from its elevation and from its use as a summer retreat. The area was settled before 1800 and was its own town from 1861 until it joined Augusta, and George Walton, one of Georgia's signers of the Declaration of Independence, lived here (Summerville Neighborhood Association). His home, Meadow Garden, opened as a museum in 1901 (DAR). The homes run Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Tudor, Dutch Colonial and Craftsman, side by side on the same streets, so an appraiser here is matching an older home against other older homes rather than against a new build. Pendleton King Park, 64 acres of pine forest, sand ridge and marsh managed as a bird sanctuary, is on Troupe Street, with an off-leash dog park and an 18-hole disc golf course inside it (Pendleton King Park). The Patch, Augusta's municipal golf course on Jim Dent Way, reopened in 2026 after a rebuild that added a short course called The Loop (The Patch).

Washington Road and Augusta National

Augusta National has been buying the land around it for years. Bisnow put the club's spending on expansion at more than $200 million, with named purchases such as a former Wendy's at Washington Road and Berckmans Road and the property that let the club redirect Berckmans Road for tournament traffic (Bisnow). Homes and lots west of the club were bought, rezoned commercial and turned into Masters parking. If you are looking at a home near Washington Road or Berckmans Road, it is fair to ask what the parcels around it are zoned today. Augusta University's Hull College of Business puts the tournament's yearly local economic impact at about $120 million (Jagwire). Farther out Washington Road, Primark opened a 28,000-square-foot store at Augusta Mall on September 24, 2026 (Post and Courier).

Evans and Martinez

Columbia County's two biggest communities have no city government, and the county's legal seat is Appling, where the 1856 courthouse is described as the oldest in Georgia still in use (New Georgia Encyclopedia). Evans is where the county government works day to day. The Columbia County Performing Arts Center at 1000 Market Street is the county-owned hall that brings touring Broadway and concerts to town (The Center). Evans Towne Center Park next to it holds the county's largest playground, a splash pad and a paved track around the lawn. The Evans Market sets up there on Saturdays through the growing season (Columbia County). The county's main library is at Evans Towne Center too, and Columbia County became its own library region on January 1, 2026 (Georgia PINES). A restaurant row has grown around the arts center; Winston's Tavern opened on Ronald Reagan Drive in October 2025 (WRDW, February 19, 2026).

Martinez is where the canal begins. Savannah Rapids Park covers about 33 acres at the headgates, where the canal is drawn off the Savannah River, and the towpath trail starts there and runs south to downtown (Columbia County). If you are commuting from Martinez, the Lewiston Road and William Few Parkway work in the roads section below is the construction you will be driving through.

Grovetown

Grovetown is the city beside the Fort Gordon reservation, and it is where a lot of the metro's military housing demand lands. The city adopted a 2026 to 2031 comprehensive plan this year and tightened its residential zoning rules. Large projects get approved when the developer commits to off-site work such as right-turn lanes and sidewalk connections (City of Grovetown council minutes, May 2026). A proposed 56-home subdivision on Chamblin Road, which connects Wrightsboro Road to William Few Parkway, drew traffic objections in May 2026 (WRDW). County commissioners also approved three rezonings around Grovetown, the first of them 321 acres off Baker Place Road for single-family homes (WJBF). The builders you will see most are Ivey Homes, Bill Beazley Homes, building here since 1976, and Hughston Homes, in communities such as Misty Meadows, Quaker Knoll, Caroleton and Crawford Creek (Ivey Homes, Bill Beazley Homes).

Patriots Park on Columbia Road dates to 1994 and has ball fields, a gym and an 18-hole disc golf course, and the paved Euchee Creek Greenway runs from it to Harlem Grovetown Road on asphalt and boardwalk (Columbia County). Gateway Park on Partnership Drive has one of the county's three splash pads, across the street from the Columbia County Exhibition Center. The new hospital, in the hospitals section below, is on Gateway Boulevard in Grovetown as well.

Harlem

Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem in 1892, in his grandparents' home, and the town keeps a Laurel and Hardy museum for him (Explore Georgia). The Oliver Hardy Festival runs on Main Street on the first Saturday of October, with a parade, more than 100 vendors, film screenings and a look-alike contest (City of Harlem). A Dunkin' opened at 755 Point Bluff Parkway next to a Piedmont Prompt Care (Augusta Business Daily), and Harlem City Park on West Church Street has ball fields, a playground and a small walking track (City of Harlem).

Appling and the lake side of Columbia County

Appling was chartered in 1816 and named for Col. Daniel Appling, a War of 1812 figure from the county (New Georgia Encyclopedia). The lake begins here. Mistletoe State Park, 1,972 acres on the southern shore of Clarks Hill, was established in 1970 and has a sandy swim beach, boat ramps, a campground and cottages (Georgia State Parks). Wildwood Park on Dogwood Lane is the county's own lake park, with a swim beach, several boat ramps and a campground (Columbia County). Lake Springs is the Corps of Engineers day-use area on Lake Springs Road, with picnic shelters, a ramp and a lookout tower (Recreation.gov).

Hephzibah, Blythe and south Richmond County

Hephzibah started out as Brothersville, named for three brothers who settled near one another. A Baptist seminary was established there in October 1860, and the state renamed the town Hephzibah in 1870, a name from the Book of Isaiah (Wikipedia: Hephzibah, Georgia). Blythe, the third city in Richmond County, had 744 people at the 2020 census (New Georgia Encyclopedia). Diamond Lakes Regional Park on Windsor Spring Road covers about 286 acres with four stocked fishing ponds, courts, two walking tracks and a branch library inside the park (City of Augusta). Toward the river, Phinizy Swamp Nature Park on Lock and Dam Road is about 1,100 acres of wetland with boardwalks and roughly 14 miles of unpaved trail, free to walk (Phinizy Center).

Thomson, Dearing and McDuffie County

Thomson's landmark is the Rock House northwest of town, built about 1785, owned by the county and listed on the National Register (Visit Thomson). A master plan for the Rock House is under way with county sales tax money, including a road realignment (Select McDuffie). Downtown, Standard Iron, a metal fabrication company, is taking over the former Badcock building, and nine projects were funded through a Downtown Thomson Grant program. Thomson-McDuffie has been a University of Georgia Archway Partnership community since 2017, and it was the first community UGA named a Connected Resilient Community (UGA News). The McDuffie Public Fishing Area near Dearing is about 570 state-managed acres with seven ponds and a boardwalk trail (Georgia DNR).

Waynesboro and Burke County

Plant Vogtle is in Burke County. All four of its units are running, with Units 3 and 4 coming online in 2023 and 2024, and the plant supports nearly 2,000 permanent jobs around the clock (WRDW, August 3, 2026). The county's development authority describes Burke as Georgia's second largest county by land area (Select Burke). Much of its river side is public land. Yuchi Wildlife Management Area is about 7,800 state-managed acres along the Savannah River, with the Brighams Landing boat launch inside it (Georgia DNR).

Lincolnton and Clarks Hill Lake

Lake Strom Thurmond, Clarks Hill to everyone here, lies in Lincoln County, Georgia and McCormick County, South Carolina. It is about 71,000 acres with roughly 1,200 miles of shoreline, built by the Corps of Engineers from 1951 to 1954, and it is described as the largest Corps lake east of the Mississippi (Wikipedia: Lake Strom Thurmond). Full pool, the level the Corps aims to hold in a normal year, is 330 feet above mean sea level. In April 2026 the lake was about seven feet below full pool, the Corps cut its water releases, and the upper Savannah River reservoirs were at drought trigger level 2 (USACE Savannah District). A lake level changes week to week. If you are looking at a home on the water, the Corps' Thurmond page is the place to read today's number, because the dock, the ramp and the view all depend on it. Elijah Clark State Park, about 447 acres on the western shore, is on McCormick Highway with a swim beach, ramps, cottages and a log cabin museum (Georgia State Parks). Amity, a Corps day-use area with a beach and a ramp, is off the Thomson Highway south of Lincolnton.

New construction in Columbia County: data centers and homes

The biggest local story of 2026 is data centers. The Economic Development Authority of Columbia County approved an agreement with Kinetic Infrastructure Solutions, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., for a commitment of at least $17 billion. The reported terms are $40 million a year to the county for seven years, with the first payments due in late 2026 or early 2027 depending on construction milestones (WRDW, August 26, 2026). The conditions include 500-foot buffers from homes, a 65-decibel noise limit, closed-loop cooling, a ban on private wells, full-cutoff lighting and a requirement to decommission the site at the end. Commission chairman Doug Duncan has said the county's goal with data centers is to eliminate its own share of property taxes, which is about 40% of the county budget (WGAC, August 31, 2026).

Earlier in the year, on February 4, 2026, commissioners approved two data centers and rejected a third. On February 25 a resident filed two judicial-review petitions against the approvals at White Oak Business Park and Pumpkin Center (WRDW). The Pumpkin Center conditions were raised along the way, from 250-foot to 500-foot buffers and from 6-foot to 12-foot berms, with no housing allowed on the east side of Highway 221 near the center. Residents along Highway 221 describe the corridor changing from rural land to two data center sites, an Amazon facility and school traffic (WRDW, August 8, 2026). If you are looking at a home along Highway 221 or near Appling, the county's planning agendas will tell you where those cases stand today.

Housing is being approved alongside. Commissioners approved a 107-unit townhome development on McCormick Road in September 2026 on a split vote (Columbia County Observer), and the 321 acres off Baker Place Road and the Chamblin Road subdivision are in the Grovetown section above. NewHomeSource listed 85 new-home communities in Columbia County as of September 2026 (NewHomeSource). Builder prices change, so please ask the builder for its current price sheet before you compare communities.

Augusta Corporate Park and the employers

Two new plants in Augusta Corporate Park, in Richmond County, are bringing jobs to the metro. Aurubis Richmond started production in September 2025. It is the first plant in the United States that recycles several metals at once, taking in up to 180,000 tonnes a year of mixed recycling material and recovering copper, nickel, tin and precious metals (Aurubis). Its second phase, with the furnaces, reported a first melt in February 2026, and the plant employed more than 200 people, heading toward 240. GF Casting Solutions, part of the Swiss company Georg Fischer, is spending more than $184 million on a plant that casts large aluminum parts for cars. The state's announcement put it at 354 permanent jobs at an average salary of $62,280, with the plant expected to start up in 2027 (Governor's office). Downtown, the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center is a roughly $106 million state project, described as the largest cybersecurity investment by any state government in the country (Georgia Cyber Center). In July 2026, LinkedIn put Augusta at No. 1 on its 2026 Cities on the Rise list, citing cybersecurity, defense and data center investment (WRDW, July 23, 2026).

The road work you will drive through

Most of the active road work is in Columbia County, where the growth is.

• Hardy McManus Road is going from two lanes to three, with right-turn lanes, a 5-foot sidewalk on the north side and a 10-foot multi-use path on the south. Work was still active in August 2026, with lane closures at Sam Baston Drive (WRDW).
• William Few Parkway widening continues, with August 2026 closures at Chastain Drive (same source).
• Lewiston Road is going from two lanes to five. It began in April 2020 and was originally due in 2023, and as of June 2026 the county was still posting closures on William Few Parkway, Martinez Boulevard and Towne Centre Drive (The Augusta Press).
• Furys Ferry Road is being resurfaced for nearly three miles between River Watch Parkway and Evans to Locks Road, a $2.11 million contract due March 31, 2027 (WRDW, May 26, 2026).
• US 1 at Kite Road gets a $2.71 million roundabout due September 30, 2027 (same source).
• GDOT's 2026 list also touches SR 104 from William Few Parkway to Tubman Road, SR 56 north of Tobacco Road, and SR 28 from SR 104 to Evans to Locks Road. North Belair Road and Wrightsboro Road from SR 388 to Jimmie Dyess Parkway are on it too (ARTS minutes, April 23, 2026).

Much of this is paid for by the TIA, the 1% regional transportation sales tax the CSRA approved under Georgia's Transportation Investment Act of 2010. The CSRA was one of three regions in the state to approve it, with 84 regional projects on the voter-approved list (City of Augusta). It is a sales tax, so it does not appear on your property tax bill. Augusta Regional Airport, Bush Field, is adding two security screening lanes to its existing two, relocating rental cars and building a 30,000-square-foot NetJets hangar. More than 2,000 private aircraft were expected there for Masters week 2026 (WRDW).

Schools: the buildings and the attendance lines

Richmond County is in the middle of a district-wide facilities plan, so the school a given address feeds may have changed for 2026-27. The Board of Education approved its 2026 Facilities Master Plan on February 23, 2026, and the facility changes took effect at the end of the 2025-26 school year (Richmond County School System, WRDW). John M. Tutt Middle consolidated with Langford Middle as Langford-Tutt Middle for 2026-27. Murphey Middle and Jenkins-White Elementary closed, with their students rezoned. Barton Chapel Elementary closed for demolition and a new building on the same site, with most of its students at Glenn Hills Elementary, in about 10 portable classrooms, until the new school opens in fall 2028. T.W. Josey High and the Murphey campus are being renovated into a district-wide high school with career, technical and agricultural programs, projected for fall 2029, and when that is done the Josey attendance zone is dissolved. Please check the district's current zoning map for any address you are considering.

Columbia County voters extended the school district's ESPLOST, a 1% sales tax for school construction, buses, maintenance and technology, in November 2024, through 2032 (WRDW). The last attendance-zone changes on the record are the 2023 rezoning, driven by the opening of Westmont Elementary and North Columbia Elementary and the closing of South Columbia Elementary. That rezoning moved parts of North Old Belair Road, Louisville Road and the area south of I-20 east of Old Wheeler Road (WRDW). The county is growing fast enough that the Board of Education's current agendas are worth a look before you rely on the zone a listing shows.

Hospitals, the university and the post

Columbia County's hospital opened this year. Wellstar Columbia County Medical Center at 5000 Gateway Boulevard in Grovetown, off I-20, welcomed its first patients on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. It is a six-story, 100-bed hospital, with 16 intensive care beds and 84 medical-surgical beds, operating rooms, cath labs and an emergency department the system expects to become a Level II trauma center. The 92,000-square-foot medical office building beside it, with 11 outpatient clinics, was still under construction and due to open later in fall 2026 (Wellstar). If you are comparing a Grovetown or Evans address with one in Augusta, the drive to this emergency department versus the ones downtown is now a real question to ask.

Augusta University is the metro's academic medical anchor, home to the Medical College of Georgia. Fall enrollment passed 12,000 with the largest freshman class in its history, and the university opened a Student Health Services building in January 2026 and a Student Welcome Center in April 2026 (WRDW).

Fort Gordon is the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence and the headquarters of Army Cyber Command. The new Cyber School campus was transferred from the Corps of Engineers to the post on May 29, 2026, with a fit-out phase scheduled to finish in 2028 (WRDW). It is part of a 35-project effort on the post that broke ground in July 2020 (Army.mil). The post shows up in the loan data. Of the 4,876 home-purchase loans made on the Georgia side of the metro in 2024, 1,615 were VA loans and 915 were FHA loans. That 52% combined share is the highest of Georgia's five largest metros (Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 2024). If you are moving here on orders or as a veteran, how VA loans work in Georgia covers entitlement, the funding fee and what an attorney closing changes.

The county and the city the home is in

Augusta and Richmond County are one government. The consolidated Augusta-Richmond County government covers the county, and Richmond County has three incorporated cities inside it: Augusta, Hephzibah and Blythe (New Georgia Encyclopedia). In Columbia County, Grovetown and Harlem are cities with their own city tax, and Evans and Martinez are not, so a home in Evans or Martinez has no city layer on its tax bill at all. The county tax commissioner's records for the address will tell you which taxing districts it is in, and that is the first thing I'd look up on two homes before comparing their tax estimates.

The pieces of a Georgia property tax bill

Georgia taxes 40% of a home's fair market value. The standard statewide homestead exemption, for the home you live in, takes $2,000 off that 40% assessed value for county and school taxes. It does not apply to municipal school taxes or to the millage that pays off bonds (Georgia Department of Revenue). A millage rate is a tax rate stated in mills, and a mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. So the bill is the assessed value, less your exemptions, times the combined millage of every layer the home is in, divided by 1,000. Counties here also offer their own local homestead exemptions on top of the state one, and you have to apply for homestead with the county after you buy.

Both county governments adopted a rollback rate for 2026. A rollback rate is the rate that would bring in about the same total tax as the year before after property values rise, so adopting it means the government is not taking extra money from higher assessments. The 2026 rates on the Georgia side, both lower than 2025:

• Augusta-Richmond County adopted its rollback rate on September 18, 2026. The gross maintenance and operations rate is 11.941 mills, a credit of 5.748 mills from the local option sales tax comes off, and the net rate is 6.193 mills (WRDW). The Richmond County school rate fell from 18.74 to 18.252 mills (WRDW).
• Columbia County adopted a rollback rate of 4.36 mills for county operations (WRDW), and the Columbia County school rate is 14.997 mills, down from 16.234, the sixth straight year the board has cut it (The Augusta Press).

A lower rate does not by itself mean a lower bill, and Augusta said so when it released its 2026 tax digest. Your bill moves with the assessed value, your exemptions, any improvements and the districts the home is in (WRDW). The reliable way to compare two homes is to pull the actual tax bill for each address, and I'm glad to read them with you.

The homestead cap, and how it changed twice

Georgia passed a statewide floating homestead exemption in 2024, HB 581, effective in 2025. It caps how much the taxable value of a homesteaded home can rise each year at the rate of inflation, and local governments could opt out by March 1, 2025 (ACCG). Both counties here opted out and then put their own local caps to their voters (WRDW). On November 4, 2025, the local exemptions passed in both. Richmond County's passed by 76.8% to 23.2%, with a reported limit of a little over 3% a year on increases. Columbia County's passed by 72.07%, with separate questions for the county and the school district (WRDW).

Then the state settled it. Georgia's HOME Act, Senate Bill 33, was signed on May 11, 2026. It makes the inflation cap mandatory for every county, city and school district from 2027 and ends the local opt-out, and it creates a Local Homestead Option Sales Tax that counties can put to voters from 2028 (Georgia Municipal Association). Under either version, the cap only applies once your homestead exemption is on file with the county, and the taxable value resets to the purchase when the home changes hands. So the tax figure a listing shows is the seller's number, and your first full bill after you buy will be built on your value.

Flood and insurance

Flood risk here comes from the Savannah River and the creeks that drain into it. Augusta is behind a levee along the Savannah River, which the Flood Control Act of 1936 authorized the Corps of Engineers to build to its present height. The Corps' inundation maps for the basin assume the levee closures are in place (City of Augusta). FEMA's Community Rating System, CRS, gives flood insurance discounts to communities that do more than the minimum on flooding, and the discount here changes at the Richmond-Columbia county line. The City of Augusta is a CRS Class 7 community, since 2018, which is a 15% discount on flood insurance in the Special Flood Hazard Area, FEMA's high-risk zone where a lender requires flood insurance (City of Augusta). Columbia County reports a 20% discount in that zone (Columbia County). Outside the high-risk zone, a participating community generally earns a 10% discount (FEMA).

Hurricane Helene is the local reference point for insurance now. It reached Augusta as a tropical storm on September 27, 2024, and the city reported $81 million in damage, with FEMA approving about 46,000 applications and sending $65 million to residents (City of Augusta). Wind-driven tree damage is the claim that keeps coming up, so when you get a homeowners quote on a wooded lot, it is worth asking the agent how the policy treats trees and wind. Georgia homeowners premiums rose about 9% in 2025, with about 10% projected for 2026 (Georgia Recorder). Those are statewide directions, and the only number that matters to your payment is the quote on the specific home. For a property in the high-risk flood zone, I explain how to price the flood premium into your payment before you make an offer in buying a home in a flood zone.

Augusta also charges a stormwater utility fee of $6.40 a month for a single-family property with up to 4,400 square feet of hard surface, billed with water and sewer by Augusta Utilities (City of Augusta). Columbia County bills water and stormwater together, and it publishes water and sewer tap-in fees by meter size for new construction (Columbia County).

Covenants, and whether they expire

With 85 new-home communities counted in Columbia County alone, odds are good that the Grovetown or Evans subdivision you are looking at has an association, and Georgia law gives it two possible shapes. Georgia's Property Owners' Association Act, the POAA, dates to 1994 and is voluntary. A community opts into it when it is developed or later by amendment. Under the Act, a lien for unpaid assessments and fines attaches automatically, with no paper filing (Nowack Howard). I'd also ask how long the subdivision's covenants last. Before 1993, Georgia covenants generally expired after 20 years. A 1994 change in the law lets covenants renew automatically, and a community that adopted the POAA has covenants that run forever, because the 20-year statute does not apply to it (Lueder, Larkin & Hunter). The association's recorded covenants and its resale documents answer that, and they list the dues and any charges due at purchase. Please ask for both early. The dues go into the monthly payment a lender qualifies you on, and I do not quote any community's fees here, because the resale documents are the only place they are current.

Masters week and the 14-day rule

Augusta homeowners have rented their homes during tournament week since the 1970s (Post and Courier). The tax rule behind it is Section 280A(g) of the federal tax code, known around the country as the Augusta Rule. It lets you rent your personal residence for up to 14 days a year and leave that rental income off your federal taxable income, as long as the rent is at fair market value. At day 15 the exclusion is lost for the whole year (Smith and Howard). This is a tax provision, so please confirm how it applies to you with a tax professional. And it is not income a lender uses to qualify you for a mortgage, so when we work through your numbers, we will leave it out.

Loan limits, the monthly payment and the cash to close

The 2026 conforming and FHA loan limits for all five Georgia-side counties, Richmond, Columbia, Burke, McDuffie and Lincoln, are in the box below this article, and all five are at the same national level. The conforming limit is the largest loan Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will buy in a county, and a loan above it is called a jumbo loan.

The county and city millage, the homestead cap, flood and homeowners insurance, the stormwater fee and any association dues all go into the monthly payment a lender qualifies you on. Georgia's transfer tax and its intangible recording tax on the loan go into the cash to close instead, and the Georgia page walks through both and through what an attorney closing changes. Pre-approval in Georgia covers what the letter is based on. If you are weighing Augusta against the rest of the state, the Savannah page and the Atlanta page are the ones to put beside this.

When you're ready, you can run your numbers for an Augusta-area purchase: rates for your scenario and Georgia closing costs, with no credit pull and no account. Choose the option that works best for you, and the application opens from there.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. The value the county uses for a specific property and the exemptions it allows are set by that county's tax assessor, so please confirm them with the county office.

Common questions

Is Evans, Georgia a city?

No. Evans and Martinez are both unincorporated communities in Columbia County that the Census Bureau counts as census-designated places. Neither has a city government or a city property tax, so a home in either one carries the county and school layers on its tax bill and no city layer. The county's legal seat is Appling, and Evans is where the county government works day to day.

Is it Fort Gordon or Fort Eisenhower?

Fort Gordon. The post became Fort Eisenhower in October 2023 and went back to Fort Gordon in 2025, now honoring Master Sgt. Gary I. Gordon, a Medal of Honor recipient killed in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. It is the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence and the headquarters of Army Cyber Command, and Grovetown is the city beside it.

Which Richmond County school will my home be zoned for in 2026?

It may have changed. The Richmond County Board of Education approved a 2026 Facilities Master Plan on February 23, 2026, and its changes took effect at the end of the 2025-26 school year. Tutt Middle consolidated with Langford Middle as Langford-Tutt Middle, Murphey Middle and Jenkins-White Elementary closed, and Barton Chapel is being rebuilt for a fall 2028 opening. The district's current zoning map is the place to check any address.

Does Augusta have a hospital in Columbia County now?

Yes. Wellstar Columbia County Medical Center at 5000 Gateway Boulevard in Grovetown opened to patients on August 26, 2026, with 100 beds and an emergency department the system expects to become a Level II trauma center. Its medical office building, with 11 outpatient clinics, was due to open later in fall 2026.

Do I get a flood insurance discount in Augusta?

If the home is in FEMA's high-risk flood zone and you carry a National Flood Insurance Program policy, yes, and the amount depends on the county. The City of Augusta is a CRS Class 7 community, which is a 15% discount in that zone, and Columbia County reports a 20% discount. Outside the high-risk zone a participating community generally earns 10%. A flood insurance agent can tell you which rating applies to a specific address.

Can I rent my home during the Masters tax free?

Federal tax law lets you rent your personal residence for up to 14 days a year and leave that income off your federal taxable income, as long as the rent is at fair market value. At day 15 the exclusion is lost for the whole year. Please confirm how it applies to you with a tax professional. It is not income a lender uses to qualify you for a mortgage.

Are property taxes lower in Columbia County than in Richmond County?

The 2026 rates are lower in Columbia County: 4.36 mills for county operations and 14.997 for schools, against a net 6.193 mills for Augusta-Richmond County operations and 18.252 for schools. A home in Evans or Martinez has no city layer at all. A lower rate does not by itself mean a lower bill, because the bill also depends on the assessed value, your exemptions and the districts the home is in. The only fair comparison is the actual tax bill for each address.