col springs - weather, schools?? (Denver, Colorado Springs: insurance, new home, neighborhoods)

[mimi12]

We live in South Florida and thinking of relocating to Colorado Springs. I have spent hours reading threads - thank you everyone. I still am unsure of the weather. The winters are from October to May - but how bad? Will the kids be able to be outside? Also our kids are 7 and 5 - how are the schools? They are in "A+" schools now and I would hope for similar school ratings.
ok, what is with the "smell"? I left NY because of the garbage dump. I wouldn't want to settle for another dump!
Lastly, can anyone recommend any good builders? We are looking in the price range $250-$350k.
Thanks again for all your help! I love this site!

[Charles]

Why are you thinking of relocating to the Springs? What line of work are you in?

You may have read some other posts which described the dry and sunny "versions" of cold weather. Forty-five degrees and sunny and dry is bike riding and tennis weather. As long as it isn't windy.

I have three girls 3, 5, and 8. We live near Monument and moved from Southern California. Last winter was their first winter in Colorado. I coached them in soccer and basketball. Last year's weather was relatively brutal even though the inches of snow was normal. Much of the snow fell earlier in the winter than normal and didn't melt as fast, especially in the Monument area. Yes, the weather is more restrictive for going to the park in the winter as we did in California year round. Yes, they will be indoors more than in Florida or California. However at that age they can handle playing outside and you as a parent won't have to assist them with clothes, boots, etc. as we do with our youngest.

You may have also read about D12, D20, and D38 school districts.

My two cents on location is stay north for 1) lots of nice neighborhoods in your price range with good schools, and 2) proximity to Denver jobs if needed.

[mimi12]

Thanks for your response/comments. Jobs aren't an issue. I'm an accountant and work from home (as of now). My husband works for law enforcement. Schools, neighborhoods and weather are our major concerns. I may be visiting soon. Any suggestion on builders/new homes communities?

[bashep]

Ok, in the districts that people are suggesting. You can find homes in your price range with the following builders: Richmond Homes, Classic Homes, Creekstone Homes, Harmony Homes & Keller Homes. You can probably get a pretty good deal on new builds right now because it is buyer's market. bashep

[Charles]

Originally Posted by mimi12

Thanks for your response/comments. Jobs aren't an issue. I'm an accountant and work from home (as of now). My husband works for law enforcement. Schools, neighborhoods and weather are our major concerns. I may be visiting soon. Any suggestion on builders/new homes communities?

Briargate, Cordera, Wolf Ranch, Jackson Creek, Stone Crossing, Flying Horse, Cathedral Pines, Kings Deer, Bent Tree, Higby Estates, Fox Run, Stone Crossing, Pine Creek

[mimi12]

So which is a better family community - Monument or Colorado Springs?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by mimi12

So which is a better family community - Monument or Colorado Springs?

That is a very tough question to answer.

Some of the elements of my process for finding a place to live was to identify the better school districts, evaluate traffic patterns, and eliminate neighborhoods which would make it tough for our kids to have fun. So, I downloaded every school data file I could find and decided that D12, D20, and D38 were acceptable. Then we eliminated D12 because every home we saw in that district was on a hilly road - not good for our kids on skates, bikes, etc. Also D12 is located in the west central Colorado Springs region - too far from Denver for paranoid Charles.
So that left D20 and D38. It came down to which house to live in. We found a home near Monument in Kings Deer which was on a flat street and had plenty of room for our growing family, three girls with a fourth girl due in October 07 (I'm raising my own skilled nursing facility staff, I'll never need nursing home insurance). Before I moved to the springs I studied the transportation and road plans so I found out about Powers being an expressway someday. This paid off as Powers to Woodmen to Marksheffel to 94 to Schriever AFB is really fast with only a few lights.

[AlexKlipfel]

Well finding a place in the Monument area in that price range might be a bit difficult. You might be narrowed down to a town home or a patio home. The best place to find out all of the school info would be directly at the schools but you can also find some other information on the region at the census bureau website. Census Bureau Home Page When you do come out to look at some houses you should keep your options open. I wouldn't narrow your choices to just new builds. There are a lot of homes on the market and a lot of beautiful homes in very nice neighborhoods through out Colorado Springs and monument. A down side of the newer homes is that the landscape is not as developed and tends to be barren. Good luck on finding a home. PM me if you have any questions.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by AlexKlipfel

WThe best place to find out all of the school info would be directly at the schools but you can also find some other information on the region at the census bureau website.

Several months ago I put an Excel file here with school data:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/color...tml#post547703

[summit21]

Charles last winter was anything but normal. In Jackson Creek we measured about 155 inches of snow, further north Bill Kapel, a former meteorologist at channel 11 got 208 inches of snow this past winter ( both areas in Monument). Monuemnt area generally averages around 100 inches a year, so last winter was well above normal for Mopnument. The following is from a local paper, our community news:
May 2007 Weather Statistics
Average High 64.8° (-4.5°)
Average Low 37.6° (+1.3°)
Highest Temperature 80°F on the 13th
Lowest Temperature 26°F on the 6th, 24th
Monthly Precipitation 3.21" (+2.03")
Monthly Snowfall 18.2" (+15.5")
Season to Date Snow 208.6" (+70.1")
Season to Date Precip. 32.42" (+13.65")
For more detailed weather information and Climatology of the Palmer Divide and Tri-Lakes region, please visit Bill Kappel’s Weather Web page at http://users.adelphia.net/~billkappel/Weather.htm.

As far as this past winter’s snowfall, unfortunately, there are no official records for the Tri Lakes area, so it’s hard to say if we broke any records. However, knowing the history of some of the big snow years in the past 100 years or so, I would say last season was in the top 10%. If we had received bigger amounts of snow in November and/or March, we would have been right at the top. The snowpack (as far as having at least an inch of snow on the ground) was right near the top as far as number of consecutive days goes, lasting for 118 days at my house in the Walden neighborhood ( November 28 to March 25). I have been keeping weather records at my location for the past 5 winters and last winter was by far the snowiest.