moving to Ozark,MO, Any helpful info? (Springfield, Nixa: real estate, lofts)

[patti6]

Hi. My family and I are moving to Ozark,Mo this summer and I wondered if anyone out there has any helpful information for me?? How are the neighborhoods, schools, people, etc? I would appreciate hearing from anyone familiar with the area. Thank you!!

[toddm]

Welcome to Ozark!! I live in Ozark and absolutely love the place. It is really a nice, safe town that's really growing. Schools are great, there's plenty of activities going on, and quite a few nice areas to live.

It has a reasonably good business/commercial environment with about any service you need being local. It has several "big box" stores...Super WalMart, Walgreens, and Lowes with Target and Home Depot coming. Ozark also has quite a few smaller retailers and there has been a huge amount of renovation downtown on the square with several lofts, speciality retailers, and restaurants.

One thing I especially like about Ozark is that it does not seem like just a bed room community of Springfield. Even though the city limits now touch, it still has its own identity or sense of place. Even though it is a quickly ballooning small town.....it still feels like it's a small town.

I don't know where your moving from but we were part of that winter storm that moved through the Midwest. It dumped 3-4 inches of sleet then about twice that amount of snow on top of it. Temps were about 13 last night w/windchills of below zero. What a change from the summer when it was 95+ for several months and extremely dry.

[garth]

Since the thread is about Ozark, I hope you don't mind me jumping in too. I've been looking at Ozark via realtor websites, this site, and others. I see that it has low crime and other attributes that I like. I've also been to the downtown revitalization site. It appears that people have pride in thier town and are making positive changes, at least from the perspective of someone who has only seen it from the web.

However, I do have some questions. I see that it is located across the US Hwy from Nixa. My impression of Nixa, again from the web, is that it's a newer area that's a direct suburb of Springfield. It seems that it's row after row of tract housing in the city that's surrounded by some tract of homes on a few acres. Is that a fair impression and is Nixa's growth having a similar effect on Ozark? Is Ozark headed towards the cookie cutter tract housing form found in soooo many places around the country?

Also, are there still areas outside the incorporated limits of Ozark where someone can feel that they're in the country, away from the noise of the highway, have some acers of land (3-10 or so) and a nice house, perhaps partly forested, and yet be relatively close (maybe 15-20 minutes or so) to the stores that you mentioned or not too far from Springfield (~30-40 minutes or so)? I happen to like driving by farms, fields of corn, ranches with cows in the pasture, pigs rooting through the plowed fields, and forested roads instead of manicured entrances to housing tracts.

Also, is there such a thing as buying a nice home on land that's not burdened by marrying all of the neighbors. In other words, do the new houses in the area have the heavy formal restrictions on them where the neighborhood has the right to tell you how to paint your house, approve the architecture, oversee your planting choices, disallow victory gradens, and other similar things? I can almost justify it in neighborhoods where the houses are on top of each other, but on wider tracts of land I almost find it communistic in origin.

BTW, I understand that "nice house" is subjective. I'm not speaking of Taj Majal McMasions, but something in the $250K to $500K range and new to a few years old is what I'm thinking about. It's nice to us, but it might be something less or different to others.

Thanks for letting me jump in. Perhaps some of the answers can help the original poster too.

[Darren Stewart]

Dear Patti,

I have lived in Ozark, Missouri since 1995 and absolutely love Ozark. Currently I am ending this year as chairman for the Ozark Chamber of Commerce but will still be serving on the board for the next year. I would be happy to provide as much information as possible to assist you with your move to Ozark. We have packets available that include alot of information about the area, town history and phone and reference numbers to assist in your move.
Let me know and I can make sure the chamber mails one of these packets out to you.

I also am a banker, loan officer and can assist with the purchase of a home or answer any questions you might have in regards to real estate in the area.

Ozark is a wonderful place to live and raise a family I myself have 3 girls all in the Ozark school system. The schools are second to none in this state, and have excellent programs. Our downtown definitely has a small town charm but we are a 10 minute drive south of Springfield population 250,000, my wife is an RN at the hospital in Springfield, and the commute on 65 is not that difficult. Growth is what is happening in Ozark and in all of Christian county, that would include the city of Nixa, Christian county is the fastest growing county in the state and projections that I read only say that its going to continue. Both towns have completed new high schools in the last 4 years and the estimate is that in 8 to 10 years each town will need another high school.

Addressing the previous post there are areas still in Christian county where you can buy acreage and have that out in the country feeling however, you do need to realize that those feelings can change quickly since we are growing so fast.
Employment is awesome.
Police and Fire services are really good.
We are 25 minutes to Branson where there is alot of entertainment and shows, and shopping.

Moderator cut: advertising

I look forward to doing anything I can to answer your questions about the area.

[garth]

Darren,

Thank you.

Garth

[patti6]

Darren,
Thank you so much for the info! I would love to receive som relocating information. I, too, am an RN, and I plan on looking for a job in one of the
Springfield hospitals! It is good to know the commute is not too bad. We are relocating from RI. Patti

[Darren Stewart]

Thanks Patti, please refer to the message I sent you or see my profile on how I can get the Chamber of Commerce information to you.

Most of the area chambers have some kind of relocation package that they are happy to send out. It usually at the very least has a directory of area businesses and services.

[Ozarks21]

Garth, 20 minutes outside of Springfield will put you in the country. And $250k - $500k will buy you land and a nice home. There are several "neighborhoods" with 3, 5, or 10 acre lots with reasonable restrictions (you want some I assume). The covenants may be more than you want, but if I was shopping in the $400-$500k range within 30 minutes of Springfield, I would be looking in the Saddlebrook development. But that may be too McMansion for you.

[2beamissourian]

Hi we have been looking in the area as well. We went to Ava Mo. about a year ago and really liked the charm of the area.

I have a home daycare and have been in the daycare buisness for many years ........... I have been thinking when we move to open a center or to still keep doing it out of the home if I can find the right home.
Any suggestions on this? Im not restricted to Ava .. just that was the area we visited.

Ozark and new schools? What are the taxes like and how were the schools built? I presently live in a small town that is growing like hot cakes! we built 2 new schools AFter they were voted down! and the taxes here are HIGH! and we were just told they are going up again!

Change is good but .. it depends on the cost!

And a NEW school does not mean the school itself is in High ratings! How is the schools performances? Are the students reaching or exceding state standards?

What site can one look at for jobs in the area?

[Darren Stewart]

For school performances in Ozark you might check out the schools website and most any school around here can be found by putting the name of the town and schools in google.

Here taxes are about 10 to 15 percent beneath the national average. Schools are doing well, i have 3 kids in the school system, the thing I like about the surrounding towns around Springfield, usually within 10 to 15 miles of Springfield, there are lots of extra curricular activities for my children to become part of in the school system, the more rural you get then there are less choices in the extra curricular activities, just something that I have observed.

jobs and such,

www.ozarkshelpwanted.com

then the national big name job sites, hotjobs, monster etc, all have searchable engines for a specific area in the country.

if you have or have not ran or opened a business before there is a small business development department at Missouri State University which routinely runs seminars on starting your own business, the Springfield chamber web site may also be of help with this.

Let me know if I can help ain anyway.

Darren