Scott Angier came to Nashville for what was supposed to be a temporary assignment, working in the city’s booming construction industry. But when his employer said it was time to go back to California, he had a better idea.

Angier bought a home in Columbia, which like the rest of Maury County is rapidly becoming a destination of choice for home buyers thanks to a combination of factors including affordable prices and quick access to Franklin and downtown Nashville on I-65.

“It was pretty much a no-brainer,” Angier says of the decision to stay in the Nashville region.

“They said come back to California, (but) we liked where we were living and like the quality of life,” he adds.

His daughters can safely play in the yard – something that was impossible in the Sacramento-area neighborhood they left – and he was able to purchase a house with a workshop on seven acres for a price in the high $300,000s.

“I couldn’t have that in California,” Angier explains. “I’m living in a million-dollar house in California.”

In Maury, the next county south of Williamson County on I-65, homes are more affordable than in many other parts of the Nashville region. The average price in Maury County in 2017 was $234,308. It rose to $247,906 early this year, according to data from the local real estate association, the Southern Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors, and from RealTracs Solutions.

For comparison, the median home price in Williamson County in February was $560,187. In Rutherford County, it was $264,985, according to the Williamson County Association of Realtors.

When prices across the entire Nashville region are added together, the median price in February was $289,093, according to the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

Maury County is attracting the attention of some of the region’s largest home builders.

Harvest Point, the region’s newest master-planned neighborhood, is being launched on the Maury County side of Spring Hill by Regent Homes, The Jones Co., Lennar and Celebration Homes.

The Jones Co. is pricing homes from the high $200,000s. Other builders have not announced prices

Harvest Point, located next to Spring Hill Middle School, will have 400 home sites, walking trails, a resort-style pool, a dog park and community gardens.

“It is a master-planned community, so it will be a very rich lifestyle and will feel amazing once everything is in. Lots of walking trails and sidewalks, amazing streetscape, lots and lots of landscaping. It will feel very purposeful and planned. Kind of ‘Mayberry,’” says Jen Lucy, director of sales for The Jones Co.

“Maury County is booming because it has all the access to local amenities and shopping without the Williamson County price tag,” she points out.

In Harvest Point Regent Homes is offering live-work townhomes that have been popular in Williamson County. “They are similar to Berry Farms and Westhaven” in Franklin, says David McGowan, Regent’s president. Prices will begin in the low $300,000s.

Regent is also offering townhomes with a choice of master bedrooms up or down. Prices start in the low $200,000s.

The company is also offering live-works in Columbia’s Arden Village neighborhood priced from around $280,000. Single-family homes, including one-level floor plans, are also available.

Live-works have commercial space on the first floor and living space above. Businesses using them in Williamson County include real estate offices and insurance agencies.

Nashville’s worsening traffic and high commercial lease rates make live-works attractive, and changing technology makes them possible. It’s possible to run a business from your home with just your smart phone, McGowan adds. “All the Apps help run a business. You don’t need a secretary or a receptionist.”

In Columbia’s Homestead at Carter’s Station subdivision, many home buyers work at the General Motors plant in nearby Spring Hill.

Others buying homes in the Homestead at Carter’s Station neighborhood are downsizers and empty nesters who are selling homes in Williamson County, a trend that McGowan says he believes is picking up momentum.

“Many move-down buyers are moving out of Williamson County. A lot have seen large appreciation” of their home values,” McGowan acknowledges.

They can sell high in Williamson County and buy a new home in Homestead in the $280,000s to the mid-$300,000s.

In Spring Hill, Del Webb’s Southern Springs neighborhood was recently ranked by the website 55places.com as one of the country’s top-selling active-adult communities. Prices start at $274,990.

The subdivision will have at least 600 homes, and the company may add more to meet demand from home buyers, many of whom are coming from other states.

“We see a lot of empty nesters relocating from other states and are considering locations that have a Del Webb. Nashville and Middle Tennessee is a great option because of the weather, cost of living, accessibility to a majority of the U.S. population and health care,” says Chad Ramsey, the company’s director of sales for the Tennessee market.

Also on the Maury County side of Spring Hill, Ole South is developing the Villas at Meadowbrook townhomes. Prices start in the low $200,000s.