Columbia, MO Apartments? Safe and Cheap? (rentals, safe area, school)

[formida42]

My husband and I will be moving to Columbia in July so I can attend grad school. We need at least a two-bedroom apartment. We'd like to live in a safe area, but we can only afford about $600 a month. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[cyrano]

I can't recommend anything off the top of my head, but I'll say this-- rentals in the campus area and on the shuttle bus routes fill up quickly for the fall semester-- a lot of students are lining up their next year's apartment or duplex now. You might want to check out mapskrieg.com, a mashup of local craigslist ads and a map.

If you don't drive, you're limited to close to campus and maybe a couple of shuttle bus routes, but they tend to go to what I call student ghettos, which have a lot of undergrads in their first apartments, daddy has a lot of money, and they act like, well, you can imagine. "East campus" is a neighborhood where students have lived for years-- it can vary a lot from block to block.

[aragx6]

$600 should be plenty. We lived in a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartment in a 4-family building near Columbia Regional, just 5 minutes from downtown, for $450/month. We rented it through A&B management. I would definitely consider looking at the management companies over the giant complexes.