Columbia (Springfield, Oregon, Rea: apartments, rentals, crime)

[El Shaggy]

Hi Im planning to move to Missouri in a few months to be closer to my family. i currently live in Portland Oregon. I do love it here, but I want to actualy see my family once in awile. I used to live in a small town in southern Missouri as a kid, so I do know about the culture. However after doing some reserch I have decided that columbia would be the best place for me, St louis and KC seem to have to much crime and sprawl, and Springfield is to Conservative for my tastes. Im 25 and single and make less than 20,000. but Im not a college student, I need to rent but most of the places I find online seem to be for college students. can any one shed some light on this town for me. I dont drive, so public transit would be a must as well as bike lanes. Is the downtown area nice? is there apartments in downtown? walkable neighborhoods lots of parks? are jobs hard to find becuase of the college kids taking them? ok, to many questions. any help would be greatly apreciated.

thank you

[patrickmich]

Hi, as of tonight, I have arrived/relocated to Columbia. I drove here from Denver, CO.
My reasons for leaving Denver were: I missed trees and rivers, and I couldn't afford a house in Denver. My max affordibility is 120K. Columbia seemed to be a good fit based on my criteria. I plan to spend tomorrow with a Realtor
looking around. If you would like, I will keep you up to date, and tell you
what I like or dislike about the area, etc Unlike you, I am new to Missouri.
Pat

[Syncmaster414]

I am 25 and have lived in Columbia,MO for the past 2 years. I, like many others, mainly came to Columbia for the University. I just graduated in May and am actually planning to move to Denver (if I get this job).

Anyway, I have really enjoyed living in Columbia. If your salary expectations aren't too high, you should have no problem finding a job. I bartended during my time here and got by just fine. I don't know what kind of work you do, but I would check into working for MBS Textbook Exchange. They are the largest textbook dist. in the world and offer excellent benefits. They always have jobs open.

I really feel a car is a necessity in Columbia. There are some decent bus routes and bike lanes, but nothing too spectacular.

The downdown area is very walkable and has some housing as well. I remember a friend had a 1 bedroom in the middle of downtown and paid like $380/month. Housing is dirt cheap due to the oversaturation of student apartments, which is causing rent to drop just to fill them up.

I would recommend living in the southern are of Columbia (or downtown for that matter). THe southern area is the nicest and safest by a long shot and has easy access to the rest of the city via Stadium Blvd and Providence Rd, which wrap around the entire city.

If you any SPECIFIC questions, feel free to ask and I will try to ring in. Good luck!

[Syncmaster414]

On a second note, there are rivers, streams, trees, hills, and cliffs EVERYWHERE here. Its really nice. ALso, finding a house to buy for 100k is a piece of cake; they are everywhere.

[mrsgenealogy]

Originally Posted by El Shaggy

Hi Im planning to move to Missouri in a few months to be closer to my family. i currently live in Portland Oregon. I do love it here, but I want to actualy see my family once in awile. I used to live in a small town in southern Missouri as a kid, so I do know about the culture. However after doing some reserch I have decided that columbia would be the best place for me, St louis and KC seem to have to much crime and sprawl, and Springfield is to Conservative for my tastes. Im 25 and single and make less than 20,000. but Im not a college student, I need to rent but most of the places I find online seem to be for college students. can any one shed some light on this town for me. I dont drive, so public transit would be a must as well as bike lanes. Is the downtown area nice? is there apartments in downtown? walkable neighborhoods lots of parks? are jobs hard to find becuase of the college kids taking them? ok, to many questions. any help would be greatly apreciated.

thank you

Hey, Shaggy!

I can't answer all of your questions but wanted to mention that the apartment ads for college students may just be aimed at them because they're for singles...and most singles are college students. MU is the main thing Columbia has going for it, I think. The campus has like a "Duracell thing" goin' on 'cause it just keeps going and going!

If you are not into the young and single college crowd, you will find many of those rentals wouldn't interest you but then again, "if I was a betting man" (er...woman), I'd bet there are some landlords that would "give their eye teeth" for a long-term renter!

MU is my mother's alma-mater and she couldn't love it more. She studied journalism in college and even attended high school there back in the early 40's at their University Lab School that was on campus in those days.

She lived in the country north of I70 all her growing up years until she married. She even taught in a couple of one-room schoolhouses before moving away!

Good luck to you!

MrsG

P.S. Is your family IN the Columbia area? I ask because there aren't a lot of good routes from there to go towards southern MO, mostly two-lane roads... so it's NOT a quick trip! It'd be like heading towards Multnomah Falls from Portland...at best! No...that's still too straight of a trip for a comparison. Oh, well! At least I tried!

[kealoha]

Re renting an apartment downtown, one of the local tv stations, KOMU, just did a report that there is not enough housing downtown to meet demand. "Students, professionals, and retirees" want to live there. Rents range from $500 to 1500, they said.

Agree with the point that visiting family can be a slow trip by car depending on where they live...will be pretty difficult without a car as there is no bus transport to many rural areas.