Petersburg, VA Home Loans

Fort Lee is the Army’s sustainment hub. The post bills itself as the home of the Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM), which works from the Sustainment Center of Excellence headquarters dedicated in January 2009. CASCOM trains about 60,000 resident students a year, including joint and international students, through Army Sustainment University, the Quartermaster, Ordnance and Transportation schools and the Soldier Support Institute. Many soldiers on post are students in a course, so this page speaks to the permanent party: cadre, instructors, staff and families on PCS orders.

The name changed twice in recent years. The Army renamed the post Fort Gregg-Adams on April 27, 2023, and restored Fort Lee on July 11, 2025, now honoring Pvt. Fitz Lee, a Dinwiddie County native, Buffalo Soldier and Medal of Honor recipient. Some older web addresses and listings still say Gregg-Adams, so expect both when you search. Our own Debbie Haberny holds the Vetted VA Professional designation, so entitlement, funding fee and Certificate of Eligibility questions on a Fort Lee move come to us.

Petersburg

Petersburg is the closest city to the Gregg Avenue Gate, about 6 minutes without traffic, with 7 to the Sisisky Boulevard Gate. The Census Bureau counted 33,458 residents in 2020 and estimates 33,734 for July 2025; for 2020 to 2024 it lists a $189,000 median owner-occupied value, a 38.6 percent owner-occupied share, 2,630 veterans and a 25.7-minute mean commute. The city sits on the Appomattox River, and the garrison’s visitor page notes an Amtrak station on South Street and Petersburg Area Transit service on the post.

Prince George

Prince George County holds Fort Lee itself, and the county’s offices on Courts Drive are about 5 minutes from the Adams Avenue Gate and 9 from the Sisisky Boulevard Gate without traffic. The Census Bureau counted 43,010 residents in 2020 and estimates 43,936 for July 2025, with a $293,400 median owner-occupied value, a 74.3 percent owner-occupied share, 3,825 veterans and 132 building permits in 2025. The state lists every school in the division as a designated Purple Star School.

Hopewell

Hopewell has an estimated 23,261 residents for July 2025 and sits closest to the Sisisky Boulevard Gate, about 6 minutes from City Hall without traffic. For 2020 to 2024 the Census lists a $181,600 median owner-occupied value, a 57.9 percent owner-occupied share, 1,617 veterans and a $1,106 median gross rent. The garrison’s history page places City Point, where British troops landed in 1781, in present-day Hopewell, and the National Park Service describes a City Point supply base that supported about 120,000 Union soldiers.

Chester

Chester is a census-designated place in Chesterfield County with 23,414 residents in 2020. For 2020 to 2024 its median owner-occupied value was $327,200, with a 71.3 percent owner-occupied share, 2,023 veterans and a 27.8-minute mean commute. Without traffic it is about 20 minutes from the town center to the Sisisky Boulevard Gate. Chesterfield County is up 9.1 percent from its April 2020 estimates base to July 2025, so ask early whether a newer home comes with an owners’ association.

Ettrick

Ettrick is a village in Chesterfield County and the home of Virginia State University, a land-grant HBCU of about 5,000 students on a campus above the Appomattox River. The Census Bureau counted 7,241 people there in 2020 and lists a $211,200 median owner-occupied value, a 71.9 percent owner-occupied share and 383 veterans for 2020 to 2024. Without traffic it is about 8 minutes to the Gregg Avenue Gate and 10 to the Sisisky Boulevard Gate.

Dinwiddie

Dinwiddie County is the least densely settled place measured, with 55.5 residents per square mile in 2020, a 79.6 percent owner-occupied share and a $257,800 median owner-occupied value for 2020 to 2024. Its 31.2-minute mean commute is the longest on this page. The county Government Center on Boydton Plank Road is about 25 minutes from the Gregg Avenue Gate and 26 from the Lee Avenue Gate without traffic. Pvt. Fitz Lee, the post’s namesake, was born in Dinwiddie County.

Treat Census medians as a snapshot, not a quote on any house. For 2020 to 2024 the median owner-occupied value was $181,600 in Hopewell, $189,000 in Petersburg, $246,600 in Colonial Heights, $257,800 in Dinwiddie County, $293,400 in Prince George County, $327,200 in Chester and $366,000 in Chesterfield County. Owners occupy about 39 percent of Petersburg’s homes, against 68 percent in Colonial Heights and 74 percent in Prince George County.

Chesterfield County is up 9.1 percent from its April 2020 estimates base to July 2025 and issued 2,194 building permits in 2025, against 132 in Prince George County. In newer subdivisions, Virginia’s Resale Disclosure Act has the seller obtain the owners’ association’s resale certificate, which lists assessments, special assessments, reserves and the budget and is due within 14 days of a written request. The seller disclosure statement also points buyers to check for a community development authority district. Ask your real estate agent to request both early.

Schools. Prince George County Public Schools is the division designated for children living on post, and the state’s education department lists it among 13 divisions where every school holds the Purple Star designation for military-friendly schools; the division says nearly one-third of its enrollment has been military-connected in past years. The School Liaison Office names five other divisions around the post: Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie, Hopewell and Petersburg. Virginia law lets a student who lives in military housing enroll in any school in the division that has space, but boundaries do not follow town lines, so confirm each address with the division.

Gates. The Sisisky Boulevard Gate, the main gate off VA 36, is always open. Gregg Avenue and Adams Avenue run 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, with Adams Avenue closed on weekends and holidays; the Lee Avenue Gate, formerly the Sustainment Gate, adds weekends and federal holidays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Temple Avenue Gate is closed. The Visitor Control Center, beside the Gregg Avenue Gate, is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except holidays.

Drive Times. Hopewell is nearest the Sisisky Boulevard Gate at about 6 minutes, then Petersburg at 7, Colonial Heights and Prince George at 9, Ettrick at 10, Chester at 20 and Dinwiddie at 27 (typical drive without traffic, measured October 7, 2026, OpenStreetMap routing).

Roads and Roadwork. The post’s directions send I-95 drivers off at Temple Avenue (exit 54) and I-295 drivers off at exit 9B onto VA 36. VDOT is adding auxiliary lanes to I-95 both ways between Route 288 and Route 10 in Chesterfield County, with completion estimated for winter 2026, and building a roundabout at Middle Road on Jefferson Park Road, which runs along the post’s east side, with completion estimated for late summer 2027.

Mean travel time to work for 2020 to 2024 was 25.7 minutes in Petersburg, 25.5 in Colonial Heights, 26.0 in Hopewell, 23.9 in Prince George County and 31.2 in Dinwiddie County, local averages rather than a Fort Lee commute. Median gross rent ran from $1,106 in Hopewell to $1,629 in Chesterfield County. Your Basic Allowance for Housing follows your rank, dependent status and duty station, and DoD posts the official lookup. We print no allowance amounts here; bring yours and we will compare what it can buy in each part of the market.

Virginia exempts the home a veteran lives in, plus up to one acre, from real estate tax when VA lists a 100 percent service-connected, permanent and total disability, and a surviving spouse keeps the exemption while unmarried. Veterans at 100 percent for individual unemployability can qualify if the disability is permanent and total, and one personal vehicle is exempt too. Apply to the local Commissioner of the Revenue; you can file before closing with a purchase agreement, and the office has 20 business days to answer.

County Loan Limits. With full entitlement, VA puts no cap on what you can borrow; we still approve the amount, and the appraisal must support the price. County limits matter with partial entitlement, such as while an earlier VA loan is open. FHFA’s 2026 one-unit limit is $832,750, the national baseline, in Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Prince George County, Chesterfield County and Dinwiddie County.

Flood and River. In a high-risk flood area, a home with a federally backed loan must carry flood insurance, and FEMA adds that most homeowners policies exclude flood and that a new flood policy usually takes 30 days to start. The Appomattox and James rivers run close to the post, so check each address before you make an offer. Virginia’s seller disclosure statement makes no promise about flood zones and tells buyers to get a flood certification or zone determination, review maps, and use FEMA or the state’s Virginia Flood Risk Information website. Your real estate agent can pull the zone while we prepare your loan figures.

A Change Coming January 1, 2027. From then, the statement adds a notice that the owner makes no representation about a home’s proximity to a military ground installation or the effects of its operations, so buyers should do their own checks. With Fort Lee in the middle of this market, ask your agent about any home near the post.

Owners’ Associations and Special Districts. If a home sits in an owners’ association or a community development authority district, get the budget, reserves and any special assessment in writing before you sign.

Start with the Housing Services Office before you sign a lease or contract. It is in the Soldier Support Center at 1401 Barfoot Avenue, and soldiers on house-hunting travel report there on day one for a housing stamp. Every soldier needs a sponsor before a PCS move, and the post’s newcomers page explains how to get one. Before you travel to look at homes, ask us to request your Certificate of Eligibility and prepare a pre-approval, so an offer can go in quickly.

Plan for guests and school. Every adult entering needs a valid government-issued photo ID, and a real estate agent or relative visiting for the first time without a federal ID card checks in at the Visitor Control Center, 500 Gregg Avenue, or pre-registers on the Army’s Automated Installation Entry site. Fort Lee has no Department of Defense schools; Prince George County Public Schools is designated for children who live on post, and the School Liaison Officer at (804) 765-3813 can help.

On post, Hunt Military Communities manages family housing in seven neighborhoods, and rent follows a soldier’s Basic Allowance for Housing through an allotment. Homes are assigned by rank and family size and wait times vary, so ask the Housing Services Office for a current estimate before you decide to buy.

Off post, Military OneSource notes the post’s layout is unusual: the gate you enter decides which city or county you drive into. We can help you buy off post with a VA loan; your real estate agent can fill in neighborhoods and school zones.