Savannah, GA Home Loans

Fort Stewart began as Camp Stewart in 1940 and 1941, an anti-aircraft training reservation for which the government bought or condemned more than 279,000 acres in Bryan, Evans, Liberty, Long and Tattnall counties. Hunter began as Savannah’s first airport, bought by the city in 1927, and the Army took it over when the Air Force closed Hunter Field in 1967. Today the garrison is Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, home of the 3rd Infantry Division, whose units include the 1st and 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Teams, Division Artillery, the Division Sustainment Brigade and the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade at Hunter.

Debbie Haberny is a Vetted VA Professional, and for a Soldier arriving on PCS orders to the Marne Division that means one team can take a purchase from eligibility paperwork to closing. A National Guard member who is still serving can qualify after six creditable years, one of several routes to eligibility.

Savannah

Savannah is the main city on this page, and Hunter’s Montgomery Gate is 9 minutes and 4.4 miles from City Hall without traffic. The Census Bureau counted 136,286 residents in 2010 and 147,780 in 2020, and estimates 149,440 for July 2025, with a median owner-occupied value of $248,900, a 45.4 percent owner-occupied share, 8,386 veterans and a 20.7-minute mean commute for 2020 to 2024. The Savannah VA Clinic and the Savannah Vet Center’s temporary office are on Shawnee Street, 1 minute from Hunter’s Rio Gate. Check an address against Chatham County’s evacuation zones and the city’s flood rules.

Georgetown

Georgetown is a Census-designated place in Chatham County with 11,916 residents in the 2020 census. For 2020 to 2024 it had a $274,900 median owner-occupied value, a 54.6 percent owner-occupied share, 898 veterans and a 21.6-minute mean commute. It is the closest place measured to Hunter’s Rio Gate, 7 minutes and 3.6 miles away without traffic, and 17 minutes from the Montgomery Gate.

Wilmington Island

Wilmington Island is a Census-designated place east of Savannah with 15,129 residents in the 2020 census, 23.4 percent of them 65 or older. It has the highest median owner-occupied value of the places measured, $404,900, and a 77.0 percent owner-occupied share for 2020 to 2024. Without traffic it is about 22 minutes to Hunter’s Montgomery Gate and 32 to the Rio Gate. Chatham’s evacuation Zone A covers areas east of the Truman Parkway and the Vernon River, so check the zone for any address here.

Port Wentworth

Port Wentworth is a Chatham County city north of Savannah whose population estimate rose from 10,875 in the 2020 base to 17,604 in July 2025. For 2020 to 2024 the median owner-occupied value was $228,100, with a 58.6 percent owner-occupied share, 926 veterans and a 26.6-minute mean commute. Without traffic it is about 22 minutes to Hunter’s Montgomery Gate and 28 to the Rio Gate. City Hall is at 7224 GA Highway 21.

Rincon

Rincon is the Effingham County city on this page, with an estimated 11,726 residents for July 2025. For 2020 to 2024 its median owner-occupied value was $251,600, with a 61.1 percent owner-occupied share, 1,121 veterans and a 28.7-minute mean commute. Effingham County’s median owner-occupied value is $276,000 and its mean commute 32.3 minutes. Without traffic it is about 30 minutes to Hunter’s Montgomery Gate and 36 to the Rio Gate.

Midway

Midway is a small Liberty County city on US 84, with an estimated 2,387 residents for July 2025, up from 2,240 in the 2020 base. Without traffic it is about 25 minutes to Fort Stewart’s Gate 1 and 29 to Gate 4, and 34 to Hunter’s Rio Gate. Every school in the Liberty County system holds the Military Flagship award. City Hall is at 41 Charlie Butler Road.

Census numbers describe an area, not any one house. Owner-occupied homes had a median value of $302,700 in Chatham County, $248,900 in Savannah, $196,400 in Hinesville, $322,400 in Pooler and $313,400 in Richmond Hill in the 2020 to 2024 estimates, and median gross rent was $1,212 in Hinesville, $1,382 in Savannah, $1,671 in Pooler and $1,781 in Richmond Hill. Owners occupy 45.4 percent of Savannah’s homes and 47.4 percent of Hinesville’s, against 62.6 percent in Richmond Hill.

Growth is concentrated in the suburbs. From the April 2020 estimates base to July 2025, the Census estimate rose 28.0 percent in Pooler, 21.4 percent in Richmond Hill and 61.9 percent in Port Wentworth, but 1.1 percent in Savannah. Bryan County issued 733 building permits in 2025 and Liberty County 355. If a home sits in a homeowners association, ask in writing for the dues, the rules and any special charges before you commit, since they change the monthly payment you can carry.

Schools. Georgia’s Purple Star-style program is the Military Flagship School Award, which the state education department has given to 88 schools and four districts since 2018-2019. Every school in Liberty County’s system holds it. McAllister Elementary became the first Bryan County school to receive the banner in April 2026. On Hunter, Pulaski K-8 School is a Savannah public school on the installation, and elementary and middle students who live on post are zoned to it.

Gates. Hunter’s Montgomery Gate, with its Visitor Control Center, is open 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day, federal holidays included, and the Rio Gate and Wilson Gate are open 24 hours. At Fort Stewart, Gate 1 (home of the Visitor Control Center), Gate 4, Gate 5 and Gate 9 are listed as open 24 hours, while Gates 3, 7 and 8 keep limited weekday hours.

Drive Times. Typical drive without traffic, measured October 7, 2026 (OpenStreetMap routing). Hunter’s Montgomery Gate is about 9 minutes from Savannah, 21 from Pooler, 22 from Port Wentworth and 30 from Rincon, and the Rio Gate is 7 minutes from Georgetown and 17 from Richmond Hill. Fort Stewart’s Gate 1 is about 4 minutes from Hinesville and 25 from Midway, and Gate 4 is 29 minutes from Richmond Hill. Real commutes run longer at busy times.

Roads. The measured routes take Pooler drivers to Hunter on I-95, I-16 and I-516, Port Wentworth and Rincon drivers down GA 21, Richmond Hill drivers to the Rio Gate on US 17 and GA 204, and Richmond Hill drivers to Fort Stewart’s Gate 4 on GA 144. The garrison’s gate page posts temporary closures from time to time, so check it before you drive.

Mean travel time to work for 2020 to 2024 was 23.0 minutes in Chatham County, 23.9 in Liberty, 32.0 in Bryan and 32.3 in Effingham, countywide figures rather than base commutes. Basic Allowance for Housing follows your pay grade, your dependent status and the housing area tied to your duty station, and DoD publishes the lookup tool. We keep allowance figures off this page; once you know yours, we can test it against each area.

Georgia’s homestead exemption matters to veterans with a 100 percent VA rating. The state’s Department of Revenue says a qualifying disabled veteran who owns and lives in the home receives the greater of $32,500 or the federal amount under 38 U.S.C. 2102, from state, county, municipal and school taxes. That federal amount was $121,812 for 2025 and is listed as $126,526 for 2026. The veterans service says it covers honorably discharged Georgia veterans rated 100 percent totally disabled, or rated lower but paid at the 100 percent level because of unemployability. You apply with the county tax commissioner’s or tax assessor’s office, which can confirm the figure for your tax year. Several counties, including Chatham, Effingham and Liberty, also freeze a home’s assessed value under a local homestead exemption, so ask your county what applies.

County Loan Limits. With full entitlement there is no VA cap on how much you can borrow, though the amount still has to be one we can approve. County limits come into play with partial entitlement, such as after an earlier VA loan. For 2026, FHFA’s one-unit limit is $832,750 in Chatham, Liberty, Bryan and Effingham counties, the national baseline.

Flood and Storm Surge. Chatham County’s emergency agency says parts of the county sit on low coastal plains open to river, canal and hurricane flooding, and that flood insurance is mandatory for a structure in a Special Flood Hazard Area when the loan is federally backed, with a normal 30-day wait before a policy takes effect. FEMA’s updated flood maps for the City of Savannah took effect August 16, 2018. Since January 1, 2025 the City of Savannah has required new and substantially improved structures in the 100-year floodplain to sit two feet above base flood elevation, while Richmond Hill requires one foot. Chatham’s evacuation zones are A (east of the Truman Parkway and the Vernon River), B (west of the parkway and east of I-95) and C (west of I-95). Before you make an offer, look up the home’s flood zone and evacuation zone and get an insurance quote; your real estate agent can help with the maps.

Homeowners Associations. Newer neighborhoods in Pooler and Richmond Hill may have associations with their own rules and dues. Ask the seller’s agent for the paperwork early, and tell us what the dues are so we can build them into your numbers.

Start with the Army’s housing offices. Army Housing Services handles off-post referrals and lease review for both posts, at (571) 801-3470 for Fort Stewart and (571) 801-7956 for Hunter. Buyers can have us begin a Certificate of Eligibility request and a pre-approval while orders are fresh, which lets a real estate agent shop with you on a house-hunting trip.

Plan for visitors. A guest without a military ID needs a pass: guards can vet a visitor in the lane for a 24-hour pass, online pre-registration covers passes of up to 60 days, and the Visitor Control Centers handle the rest. A VA ID card must be registered inside a Visitor Center before it works at a gate.

Plan for school. The garrison’s School Liaison Officer, at (571) 801-0870, is the Army’s contact for military-connected schools in the area. Children from the two posts attend nearly a dozen school districts across coastal Georgia, so confirm the district for an address before you choose a neighborhood.

On-post family housing at both posts is privatized: the Army’s housing page lists Fort Stewart Family Homes and Hunter Army Airfield Home, and its complaint process names Balfour Beatty Communities, with management lines at (912) 408-2467 at Fort Stewart and (912) 459-2133 at Hunter. The same office oversees unaccompanied housing, and it moved into Building 707 at Fort Stewart.

Off post, the lists above give the drive from each place to each gate. If you would rather buy, we can walk you through a VA purchase off post, and your real estate agent can speak to school zones and individual neighborhoods.