Are alot of people moving to Augusta (Evans, Summerville: lofts, condos)

[nationaltreasure]

We are are moving to the Augusta area in December. We were in Augusta visiting a few weeks ago and liked many of the areas, but can't decide where to live. Any help you can give would be great.

We are looking for a nice house with 3 or 4 bedroom. Our budget is 300k.

[DAP443]

From what I've seen, alot of people are moving to the city. Anyway, I'd recommend you moving to West Augusta. The homes are very nice and are pretty affordable (You can easily get an all-brick home for 200K). It's also close to most of the shopping in the area. I would also recommend Summerville. It's very historic area of Augusta and is a beautiful place to live. I'll find out more about the area.

[DisgustaTruth]

I wouldn't say "a lot" of people are moving to the city of Augusta. In fact the population is about what it was 8 years ago.. actually down slightly from the 2000 census. Columbia County, however, is growing, and is the best area to live if you have school age children. Most of the newer shopping centers and restaurants are being buit on the westside and in Columbia County (specifically the Evans area). Housing overall is very cheap in the Augusta area and is probably the best thing about the area.. but home values also do not escalate as rapidly as they do in other markets. The Hill area is very nice.. older historic neighborhoods.. tree lined streets.. sidewalks...and a lot of homes have been put on the market in that area recently with some good deals to be had. But be warned.. you will be zoned for Richmond County schools.. with a few exceptions, it's a pretty lousy school system.

[carpool2]

There is a new influx of people moving back into the city of augusta. With all the new downtown urban renewal projects. Alot of condos, lofts, aparments, and townhomes are being built dowtown. Also alot of new neighborhoods are popping up in the rural area of south augusta in the country. The new neighborhoods in the hephzibah, blythe, and mcbean area is receiving alot of attention by developers. All the land even though its far away from the urban part of augusta. Its still part of richmond county's population but not augusta's.

[Chuck_G]

The problem with moving downtown or to the south side is that your so far away from most of your dining and shopping options. It's great that there is new housing going in, and that they are trying to renew downtown, but they really need some more businesses downtown if they want that area to become viable again.

I also don't understand why they tend to clump shopping and dining in a single area of town. I used to live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a city about the same size as Augusta, but it feels like its much larger. The main reason, I feel, is that shopping and dining are located in several areas around town. The downtown area is fairly busy, and they have their mall area, but there are shopping centers like the Augusta Exchange, located around town, forming sort of neighborhood hubs. I rarely visit the south side of town simply because there isn't much down there except for residential areas. Where as in Kalamazoo, I might travel to a lot of neighborhoods since there were restaurants all over town.