Better neighborhood - Carriage Hills in Martinez or Riverwalk Plantation in Evans (Savannah: house prices)

[DBandAB]

My wife and I have found 2 brand new homes that are very much alike and cost the exact same, one in Carriage Hills in Martinez and the other in Riverwalk in Evans. We are brand new to area and would appriciate any information regarding both areas including schools, crime, shopping, quality of life and possible resale value 5-6 years down the road and any other info you my have about the area.

[DBandAB]

I kent Riverwood Plantation.

[MantaRay]

I'm not familiar with Riverwalk, but I know about Riverwood Plantation in Evans and River Island that is close to Carriage Hills. With all of the above, expect equally good schools and expect area house prices to grow gradually, intelligently, not in leaps and bounds like other areas of the nation which create housing bubbles (and likewise expect no collapse in value when the rest of the nation does). It will be more like buying the stable but lower return of a bond versus a speculative stock.

What you really should know about Evans is that it has some of the thickest traffic in the entire area. This is partly due to the fact that the street planning was poor as the area grew, and thus there is usually no multiple easy routes to a destination, there is usually only one. Add to that the fact that Evans has very poor highway/interstate access and you have a lot of people on the same streets at the same time during rush hour, which adds significant amounts of time to a commute. There are two interstate exits for Evans. One goes through Martinez, the other through the northern part of Grovetown. Both back up excessively during rush hour. The vicinity of Furry's Ferry Rd. on the other hand (which is where Carriage Hills and River Island are) has better access to Riverwatch Parkway and I20. And all major shopping on the Georgia side of the metro area is right off the interstate. And the Savannah Rapids Pavillion is closer to it too- a park with the start of the bike/walk trail which runs along the Augusta Canal to downtown Augusta, and which will eventually be connected to the North Augusta Greeneway (according to master plans). In other words, if walking/biking trail recreation is your thing or you anticipate it becoming your thing, the Furry's Ferry Rd. location is far superior to any Evans location. There are trails INSIDE Riverwood Plantation (if that's the one you were talking about), but it's not the same thing as miles of trails along the canal, not even close. It's even actually slightly closer to the Evans Town Center that Evans is building, interestingly enough.