Commuting to Columbia, MO? (Fulton, Moberly: renting, house, transfer)

[lak&jak]

Hello. My husband and I moved to Columbia in December with our 4 kids. We are currently renting to give us time to decide where to settle permanently. We have explored different areas of Columbia and found places we liked. We also noticed that it seems you can get a lot more house and yard/land in some of the surrounding towns. We haven't had the chance to drive to many of the towns yet and we were hoping someone out there could have some honest, first-hand advice to help us narrow the search before we try to drive to all of them!

We were thinking a thirty minute commute would be ok and a decent sized house with a big yard or some acreage. We homeschool our kids so the qualities of schools is not too important, but we'd want to be in a safe and friendly town. Any recommendations?

Also, how is the commute to Columbia? Are there any areas/roads to avoid or places that are easily accessible from Columbia?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[ShadowCaver]

Don't have first-hand knowledge, but will toss this suggestion to ya: Boonville Missouri Chamber of Commerce Home Page

Curious - you mention been there for ~6 months, have yas found specific areas that you favour and/or dislike?

[lak&jak]

Thanks so much for the reply. I'll check out Boonville. We have found areas we like in Columbia. We're looking for an older neighborhood with lots of trees and large yards. We found some homes like that south of the mall, by Fairview Elementary I think, some homes by Oakland Park in the North, somehomes just south of Stadium and north of Broadway, there seem to be affordable, larger homes north of town on small acreage. We're hoping to avoid new construction that can tend to be cookie cutter. Any other areas in Columbia you could recommend we check out?

We thought we'd start looking out of town because you seem to get more house for the money.

[Thepreacherswife]

So are you not looking for rural or semi-rural living? We used to live out in Midway (one exit west of the mall) and it's a perfect combination of country and city living. It's quiet, lots of land, but a close commute to town. Not much in the way of cookie-cutter homes.

Outside of Columbia, you might find what you're looking for in Ashland, Moberly, Boonville, New Franklin, Fayette, and Fulton. Ashland and Boonville are probably closest, followed by New Franklin and Fayette. Moberly and Fulton are about up against the 30-minute commute limit.

[lak&jak]

Midway sounds like a great option.

We were originally considering homes in Columbia, but as we've searched online we've seen some really inexpensive homes farther from town. Rural living sounds nice, but we've always lived close to work, stores, parks, etc. and we were wondering how commuting to town would be.

With gas prices, it might not pay to live out of town. I was hope some of you out there would have some experiences to share of the benefits (or downsides) of living out of town (or closer to a surrounding small town) and some advice. Thanks for all your thoughts so far.

[ShadowCaver]

lak&jak - lol, I'm one of those people that have always lived "out of town". I live where I do because myself and family desire to live & raise critters in the country - even tho' we love the cities. Downside is the drive, the environmental and pocketbook and time costs thereof. Positive... well, only one for me, is the "downtime", the "transfer" time to help mentally shift from work mode to home mode, and vice versa - a bit of time to listen to the news, crank some tunes, etc. The past 5 homes have always been in "the boonies", close to small towns [<1500 people], yet ~1 hour from larger cities [StL, Chattanooga, Ft. Wayne, etc.] - and I love such a life; yet, with another eye have admired the life of actually being w/in the city.

[Carlidin]

I live in New Franklin and have commuted for 30 years to Columbia. It's really no big deal...gives me time to wind down before I get back home. I love living in a small town and the safety and peacefulness of it all. You can also get a much larger/newer home for less money than you can purchase in Columbia. If you prefer to live in the country there are usually homes with small acreages available. I myself preferred to return to my small town versus the traffic congestion/noise/confusion of being in Columbia. Zoning regulations in Columbia/Boone County are very strict. Howard County (out in the County) has no zoning regulations and I don't think the Cooper County does either. The cities of Boonville and New Franklin do have some zoning regulations but they are nowhere near as strict as Columbia. But....living in these small towns, New Franklin, Boonville, Fayette, etc. you still have access to dining and entertainment available in those towns plus if you are wanting to expand your choices Columbia is only a 25 minute drive away.