I would also suggest the Grumman Tiger a lovely aircraft fixed pitch fixed undercarriage, great handling and views from cockpit and can be flown IMC when you are rated.
It also gives you four seats and much faster than the PA28 with similar power
You should get just under 130KTS
You can buy the older variety or find a newer one when they were remanufactured.
The problem with all the home builds are that they are great for Hobby flying but you mentioned getting to work?
Once you are instrument proficient your mission reliability will pick up if you can fly in poorer weather IMC. You can do that in the Tiger but NOT in homebuilts so for your predicted mission profile forget homebuilts
The RV9 is a delight and I believe manufactured and certificated for IFR flight but be cautious as many great handling aircraft can be a challenge in IMC especially for an inexperienced IFR pilot.
You need stability
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 7th Jan 2016 at 11:44.