moving to Columbia (Fulton, Ashland, Clark: for sale, real estate, rental)

[solarcirclegirl]

Hi there! My fiance and I are about 99.9% sure we are going to be moving to Columbia during the summer. He is taking a job in Fulton.

I have a few questions about the area. We are looking to buy a condo (neither of us are very handy people) and we are seeking an area of town that is good. Fairly close to things (grocery store and such doesn't have to be walking distance, but somewhere safe, where I could do daily runs). We want to spend about 100,000 or less. Does anyone know a good real estate agent? We also have cats.

We don't have children yet, but are interested in good schools. I heard tell that there was a Montessori school, and would interested in hearing more about that.

I am a certified dietary manager pending, so I was going to apply at the UM hospital. I am also a playwright so I am interested in the arts scene.

Is there a part of town we definitely do NOT want to live in?

Any info would be appreciated.

[kareybear]

I have been working with agent? Columbia MO Homes for Sale - Ashland Property
Her name is Julie Wesley.... Good luck!!!

[Mizzou4U]

I liked living in Columbia very much. There are very good bike trails there. I lived a block from the school you are talking about, south of Broadway.

That is the best area of town in my opinion. Cornered by Broadway, West Blvd, Garth Ave and Stadium Blvd. There are some condos there just west of the school on Broadway about a half mile.


Hope that helps

[solarcirclegirl]

KareyBear--That is the exact real estate agent my fiance found for us to work with.

[solarcirclegirl]

mizzou4U--do you know what the condos are called?

[Mizzou4U]

Oh I forgot Marchelle Clark was my realtor with Asist2Sell

She did a good job

[Mizzou4U]

Google maps shows 1174 W Broadway is right in front of the place.

I'm sorry I don't know the name

[cyrano]

I live in Columbia and no one is a bigger booster of the town generally, but first I'd strongly suggest looking in Fulton itself as a place to live. No, it's not Columbia-- there's just a lot more to do here, especially the arts. While MapQuest says that the commute is 31 miles that you can do in 32 minutes, that's not realistic. If you take the straight shot, Route WW east out of Columbia, the road is kind of slow and twisty in some places. The commute can beat people down. Trust me-- I commute to Jeff.

I also raise this because of your housing budget. Forget about finding a single-family house in Columbia for $100k unless you're willing to live in the most dodgy areas of town. The condos someone referred to upthread? If it's what I'm thinking of, it's a fairly recent construction with garden-style duplexes, but when they come on the market, they're going to cost way more than $100k, probably $200k. The townhouses next to them are rental only, I think. Columbia's housing prices have resisted the downward trend nationally because it is a desirable place to live and the economy has stayed better here. I know there are other condos in Columbia and if you're ok with that, realtor.com can probably give you a good idea of what's for sale and for what price. Also, someone mentioned the area bounded by Garth, Stadium, West Blvd., and Broadway, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anything there under $200k, and that would probably be a fixer-upper-- and now that we fixed up our house, there's one fewer of those available. There aren't many-- the area has gotten more gentrified and expensive every year.

The city website, gocolumbiamo.com, has crime maps-- you'll have to dig around a little but they're not hard to find. Lots of people run on the trails, esp. the MKT trail from Providence down to the Missouri River, which is quite a run. There's a big running community here, a lot of cyclists too.

Fulton has the little college, Westminster, there, and has some arts stuff going on as a result. And in my artsy stuff, I often meet people who live in Fulton who come into columbia for that sort of thing.

[Mizzou4U]

you are going to want live in columbia. there are plenty of houses there and they are very nice. i bought a house in the area i mentioned before for $120,000 i fixed it up and the only thing i regret was leaving. it is well worth living in that area. i rode my bike to work every day.

[Alicia Bradley]

Columbia ROCKS. Now you've gotten me crying because I can't live there anymore.