Why Choose Colorado Springs? (Denver, Boulder: apartments, renting, houses)

[Curious in CT]

Thanks Mike and XXMan for your info. Anyone else out there who has made a life-changing move to CS from CT or from the east coast? Just "curious" to see how different life can be out west as compared to the east. How long does feeling home-sick last? What can I expect? Anybody??? Bueller??

[Curious in CT]

I guess nobody has anything else to say. Never mind my question. I suppose I'm the only one from Connecticut.

[kimloveseric]

Hi Mike - first time posting here (from So. Calif.). Thanks for all your great information.

We've been to the area twice since early Fall and like the Monument areas on both sides of I-25. Woodmoor is beautiful and so are the bigger lots near Palmer Lake side. Have you heard anything negative from residents or newcomers in either area? I did hear that Palmer area is not real friendly to newbies.

Overall do you ever hear that Monument is a little too far from "the Springs" especially for activities for our 3 children (ages 7-13)? I don't mean "vacationing" things...just "day to day life" things... piano lessons, basketball practice, shopping.

Crime-wise are there any so-so areas to avoid there?

I understand there is a charter K-12 school in Dist 38. That sounds especially good.
Thanks for sharing what you've learned!
Kim

[Mike from back east]

Kim: It is pretty up there in Monument. We've been here about a year now and we haven't heard anything about Palmer Lake being cool to newbies, but it could be so if you've heard that. The area doesn't appeal to me that much, kind of hard to explain, just a feeling I get driving through there.

I tend to describe things in terms of exit numbers on I-25. I'm at exit 151. Monument is at exit 161 and the Palmer Lake area is a couple miles off the highway from there. I'd say it's getting a bit out of the way. For example, the downtown area of Colorado Springs is about exit 142, or 20 miles south of Palmer Lake. That gets to be a bit of a hike if done too often.

Using the realtor website, search in zip codes 80920, 20921 or 80908 to see if my area may be to your liking - Pine Creek / Briargate area. The folks here are very welcoming and school district 20 is highly rated. Not having children, we are not familiar with what's available in the way of schools. Any good realtor can tell you all about the schools, but I'm not a realtor nor involved in any way with that industry. I can steer you to one if you wish, she's been here 20 years and tells us she gets a lot of California folks, sometimes buying multiple homes - for cash. Realtor service is at no charge to you, you can find plenty of help on the realtor website, but I sure hope some other Colorado folks can speak up and help you with this aspect of your inquiry.

On the north side of town, I don't know of any areas to avoid due to crime. Things are very quiet up here and there isn't a lot of crime in the city overall. Colorado Springs was never a big factory town like my home town (Baltimore) and as such it never developed the dense urban environment that now is so crime-prone in many of the larger industrial cities we are familiar with from the heavy-industry era of Smokestack America. This is a very clean white-collar town with lots of Federal (Defense) money.

Good shopping is at exits 151 & 150, almost anything you can think of. From exit 150 and heading south, Academy Blvd is one huge long shopping and eating district. An hour up the road in Denver is anything else we don't have here, including Nordstroms, one of our favorites.

s/Mike

[kimloveseric]

Thanks Mike -
I am familar with the Briargate area. The 2 times I've been to CS I actually stayed near the Briargate exit. I tootled around there for a 1/2 day or so. Beautiful but reminds me of Orange County, CA a little too much . Neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood. In other words, I'd love to eat and shop there but would probably do better living on 1/2 - 1 acre lots. We are so tired of looking in our neighbors windows and listening to their barking dogs.
Is there an area of Briargate/Pine Creek that has larger lots and custom or semi-custom homes? Some friends mentioned they like the Northgate area too. We are looking in the range of $350,000 - $425,000 or so. We need views too. Don't want to be where it is too flat.

[Been There]

Kim, as a Native Californian let me warn you that Colorado Springs is a fundamentalist Christian city, with a far right Republican stronghold and is the fundamentalist Christian headquarters and it isn't as sweet and nice a city as some want you to believe. I had to move out of there because I am a liberal and it is very cold in winter there and all the crime. If you are liberal in anyway, think twice about moving to Colorado Springs. Search Colorado Springs liberal in your search engine and you will see what I am talking about. Beware about moving there if you are a Democrat or liberal. Choose Boulder instead unless you are a far right Republican then you will be at home in CS. It is also a very spread out city so be prepared for long commute times to work.

[kimloveseric]

Thanks "Been There" - Boulder would be too liberal for my tastes but great place to shop and eat

I just so happen to be a "fundamentalist" Christian but one who believes in living my faith. We are also in ministry and since there are so many other Christian ministries in CS I guess it would be harder to find volunteers for our office, huh?

While I am a little worried about the cold I think some season changes would be nice. I like the idea of snow that doesn't hang around forever. My hubby would love to get our kids into skiing. Anybody know how far to family skiing?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by kimloveseric

.... but would probably do better living on 1/2 - 1 acre lots. We are so tired of looking in our neighbors windows and listening to their barking dogs. Is there an area of Briargate/Pine Creek that has larger lots and custom or semi-custom homes? Some friends mentioned they like the Northgate area too. We are looking in the range of $350,000 - $425,000 or so. We need views too. Don't want to be where it is too flat.

First, the farther east you go, the flatter it gets. We are located where the great plains meet the Rockies. For 600+ miles east of here, it's flat. Two miles west of here its almost vertical. The views from most of the area are great, especially here on the east side looking west at the mountains. In other words, for best views you want to be on the east side of I-25.

There are some lots of a larger size in Briargate / Pine Creek, but are priced higher than you wish. You can use the advanced search function in the realtor website to specify how large of a LOT you want. Also put in zip code 80908, which is the Black Forest area, where there are tons of houses with large lots. I just did a search on your price and lot size for zip code 80908 and it came back with 21 properties matching your criteria. The Black Forest area is heavily treed, views may be limited, depending on lot. We are just barely in zip 80908, on the west side of Pine Creek, with great views, on a 10,000 sq ft lot. Only 3 houses in Briargate/Pine Creek zip 80920 have larger lots in your price range. There are zero properties in Northgate (zip 80921) that match your criteria. Monument, CO (zip 80132) has 72 properties in your range. Palmer Lake, (zip 80133) has only two. Looks like Monument may be your cup of tea. It's a bit closer than Palmer Lake and is quite likable.

Our community has covenants that restrict the noise dogs can make, if people violate that, we're supposed to call the HOA. My neighbor has two small dogs but they aren't a problem. There are other dogs in here but we hardly ever hear any barking.

Its not like Albuquerque, where crime is so high that almost every house has bars on the windows, burglar alarms and large barking dogs. We saw this when we were house hunting down there the other year. No bars on the windows here, the crime stats indicate this area is pretty safe, especially here on the North side.

Don't worry about the weather. Millions live in the I-25 corridor from NM to WY and it isn't a problem. See the weather discussion elsewhere in the CO forums.

Religion is alive and well here, you can participate as much or as little as you wish. Contrary to what some posters would have you believe, crazed evangelical zombies do not drag people out of cars and baptize them in Fountain Creek against their wishes, nor do we have tent revivals stretching for miles in the median of I-25, snaring backsliders who dare to drive through town without a fish symbol on the tailgate of their vehicle. Political discourse is also alive and well. The town is conservative, but Democrats and Liberals here are not stoned to death, not ran out of town on a rail, not tarred & feathered, and not used for medical experiments. <grin>

You'll be fine here.

s/mike

[Been There]

You are welcome Kim. You will fit right in you being a conservative Christian. But when I lived there snow didn't just "melt right off" as they are telling you. It stayed around most of the year so when you are shoveling two or three feet of snow in your driveway and it is minus 12 degrees at night just remember I told you so.

[xxman777]

Been There must have lived at a higher elevation. If you live in the mountains or north in areas like monument hill you will recieve more snow. I lived in Denver for 20+ years and once every 2-3 years we recieved 2 feet of snow but rarely every year. Granted I never lived in cs but it snows more in Denver (you check average percipitation at the weather channel) and I have friends from down there I got a similar impression from them.

When it does snow a few inches usually snow will stick around for a week or so in the places where large piles accumulated. However the roads are usually clear within a 24 hours. You should note that this is not true for the mountains. As soon as you get into the mountains you will see much higher volumes of snow fall, at a much higher frequency. It snows regularly in the mountains while it is still beautiful on the front range.