Columbus · Phenix City · Fort Benning
Nobody tells you which side of town to live on.
Commute, schools, taxes and resale change block by block around here — and the national sites cannot tell you that. This is the honest version.
How buying with us works
What does the payment look like against your BAH?
Pick your pay grade, enter a price and your lender’s rate. We add the VA funding fee, property tax for the area and insurance.
2026 Fort Benning BAH (with or without dependents). The VA funding fee is 2.15% on first use and 3.3% after with no money down, 1.5% with 5% down and 1.25% with 10% down, and it is waived with a VA disability rating; we add it to the loan. Property tax uses each area’s effective rate after homestead on a $300,000 home. Your lender’s numbers are the real ones. An estimate, not a loan offer.
Two ways people end up buying here
You are arriving on orders
You may be buying from another state or another country, on a timeline you did not choose, with a housing allowance that has to cover it. On-post or off-post is a real question and the answer is not the same for everyone.
You are moving here for any other reason
A job, family, or coming back to the area. Same market, same questions about schools and commute and what holds its value — just without the report date. The Home Buyer Roadmap walks through how buying works on both sides of the river.
The questions that actually decide it
- Columbus, Phenix City, or Harris County? Two states, different property taxes, different school systems, different commutes to the gate. See the attendance-zone maps and CCRPI ratings for every school.
- On-post housing or buying off-post? Worth running the real numbers rather than the rule of thumb someone gave you.
- What your allowance or budget actually buys right now. Not what it bought two years ago. Timing matters too: here is why October through January gives buyers more room to negotiate.
- Buying sight unseen. It is common here and it is survivable, but only with someone walking the house for you honestly. If you can get here first, the Weekend Guide plans a house-hunting trip around your dates.
- Resale before purchase. If there is any chance you move again in three years, that belongs in the buying criteria on day one.
Run the numbers first
Before you talk to a lender, it helps to know roughly where you stand. The calculators cover payment, affordability and what a given budget looks like in this market.
Who you are working with
I am Arrio Granum, a licensed REALTOR® in Georgia and Alabama. Kelsey and I are an Army family and we have made this move ourselves. We work with military families coming to this post and with plenty of buyers whose move has nothing to do with the Army.
Buyer tips
Short answers to what buyers ask us most. Tap to play.
Tell me where you are coming from and when.
Fifteen minutes on a call and you will have a much clearer picture of where to look and what it costs. Free, no obligation.
Before you start looking
Want the short version of how we work before you dig in? Start with our Fort Benning realtor overview.
Two things worth reading first, both written for this market specifically:
- Which side of the river costs less — the property tax math on an identical house, plus insurance and vehicle tax, schools and commute.
- What to check before you offer on a lot — perc tests, legal access, flood zones, and why your pre-approval will not cover land.