Here’s how we decided to move to Colorado Springs from the Wash, DC metro area. See my post in "other" to get tips and techniques for how to search out a new place to live. We wanted out of the DC area, which is unlivable due to traffic and high prices.
We started by looking on
REALTOR.com - Real Estate Listings & Homes For Sale to cruise all over, to include Canadian cities.
We wanted away from summer heat & humidity, hurricanes, bugs, tornadoes, earthquakes, crime, traffic, poverty, high prices. We wanted a basement for hobbies.
Been to Florida several times for vacation and ruled it out due to bugs, heat, humidity, hurricanes. Prices are high,few homes have basements. Greenery looks nice, but Florida's a swamp, so we nixed the entire South.
Been to Scottsdale-Phoenix. Saw Del Webb's Sun City Grand in Surprise, AZ. Saw Wickenburg, Gold Canyon and Apache Jct, AZ. Very nice homes, but way too hot. Del Webb homes are nice, but no basements. Just too hot.
Been to Las Vegas. Houses were affordable 5 years ago, but that changed. LV is growing fast and is a one-industry town. A lot of folks who move to LV stay 3-5 years and move again – too boring. Crime is moderate or higher. Same heat issue as Phoenix.
Visited Albuquerque, NM. Some interesting houses for reasonable money, but the crime is awful. Development is “spotty” which means they’ll be a group of nice homes and very nearby is a pocket of poverty or ugliness. Traffic was awful. Not quite as hot as LV or Phoenix, but a brown desert.
Been to California. Ruled it out due to very high home prices, crowded cities, earthquakes, mudslides, high taxes, etc.
Been to Austin and San Antonio, TX. Too plain, hot, humid. Real estate tax is high ($8k on a $300k house) and makes up for lack of state income tax.
Then there is Colorado. The first $20k of each of our pensions is exempt from CO income tax, nor are property taxes that high. The whole Front Range is attractively priced, Denver being higher. Colorado Springs is far enough away from Denver to have it’s own identity. On the north end where we are, across from the USAF Academy, everything is new, nothing spotty, no pockets of poverty. Entire state is beautiful. Very nice homes here for $300-$500k, they'd be twice that in Fairfax County, VA.
The Springs has a lot of Federal money, USAF Academy, Peterson AFB, Fort Carson, NORAD, Homeland Security, Cheyenne Mountain, not to mention the Federal contractors and high-tech biz here. Lots of good clean money coming in and few industrial areas to speak of. All upside, no downside. A well educated populace.
We liked Colorado for the beauty, and it came out a winner in the data analysis too. Dry climate works very well for us, doesn't feel hot in summer or cold in winter. The Front Range is along the prairie, very little snow, which is mainly up in the high country.
Some traffic on I-25, but we get around just fine without the horrendous gridlock of Northern Virginia. Abundance of roads and the lack of gridlock is a key reason we eagerly left the DC area, where it was rush hour all day. We have no dense urban core crammed full of skyscrapers, thus we have no traffic problems like a typical big city. Our downtown is quite livable.
Quality of life is outstanding. There is a local minor league baseball team, and we got half price tickets to see the Denver Bronco’s play the Redskins, an experience we could not get in the DC area. Hockey and cycling are big. There's a ton of parks and pathways to walk all over the area.
There is a thriving, virbrant religious life here, all denominations.
We get good stage shows, and tons of things to do, especially outdoors, and Colorado has the healthiest populace in the nation.
We worked with a good realtor who specializes in new homes. She got us hooked up with the best builders and avoid ones with lesser reputations. Check builders very carefully before you buy – anywhere.
If you like older charming homes, see the Old North End in zip codes 80907, 80903. The area around Colorado College is a delightful mix of old cottages and bungalows, some quite large, in a flat walkable tree-lined area of great gentillity, without high prices.
Preferred school district is District 20, "Academy District." See local school map at:
http://www.gazette.com/school_districts/
If you want 2-5 wooded acres, see Black Forest, 80908. Big-time horse country, 5-10 miles NE of town.
If you want mountains, see Woodland Park, Florissant, Divide or anywhere in Teller County, west of Colorado Springs, out highway 24.
If you want to be on a golf course, see Pine Creek, 80920, aka Briargate.
If you want rustic or Bohemian, see Manitou Springs, on the west border of Colorado Springs.
Something here for everyone, affordable, livable, great.
s/Mike from back east, and I ain't going back!
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08-12-2007, 11:11 AM
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