relocation to color. springs/fort collins work, housing help needed (Colorado Springs: sales, real estate)

[mommy_takes_pics]

Hi all. I have lived in south carolina my whole life very hot and humid here. my husband was an army brat and is used to moving around. he's been to colorado i've never even visited. my sister moved to arizona a few years ago we want to be a lot closer to her but my husband wants a place with seasons. our 4 biggest kids are all grown and in college, but we have one 6 year old. we will be keeping our house here and having an agency rent it out until we decide if we like it long term or not so we'd be looking at renting. also, i have 7 courses left for my bachelors in business and would like a decent college to attend. we have narrowed down to Colorado Springs and Fort Collins (or that surrounding area). so here are my questions if anyone can help:

1) In those two areas what are nice areas for rentals? Is there any areas that are more like a historic district or older district that might have older homes, big porches, high ceilings, big yards etc...not a necessity and definitely not if they were not located in the right area, but just thinking out loud

2) My husband has a degree and experience producing and directing in media arts so he could work in television. The last few years he has worked in sales with television, magazines, newspaper, real estate and now cell phones so pretty versatile. I have helpdesk IT experience, accounts receivables, general office/administrative and I do photography on my own part time so I am pretty versatile too. If we wanted to start sending out resumes' to some major businesses in those areas so that we could set up interviews while out to check out the area...where might be some promising places to start?

3) the hubs is 40 and I'm 42 and we would be moving with the 6 year old and a cat. we both enjoy hiking/walking, antique places, eating out, movies, he used to ski but hasn't in years so not looking for any place with "extreme sports" lol...so which would suit our needs better fort collins or colorado springs.

[Carrera32]

The historic district is called Old North End. It's adjacent to and directly north of Colorado College in downtown CS. The historic district is roughly bordered by Monument Valley Park on the West, Wahsatch Ave. on the east, Colorado College on the south, and Penrose hospital on the north (note: those aren't exact borders, but pretty close) You'll definitely find the types of houses you described in this neighborhood, along with some old mansions, some mid-century fill-ins, etc. Wide streets, quiet, lots of trees, beautiful area (a few of the N/S streets have a fair amount of traffic., i.e., Cascade, Nevada, Wahsatch, Weber, but all the others are very quiet). Definitely not a cookie cutter suburb. There are plenty of other houses that meet your description in the downtown area, but Old North End is the most charming, IMO, and literally within walking distance of downtown and the college. However, you'll pay a premium to live there. There are modest bungalows that need updating that can be had in this neighborhood for a reasonable price, but by and large, you'll pay more to live in North End than for similar properties elsewhere in the downtown area. I know there are some rentals in the neighborhood, but you may have to be patient and move fast when they become vacant. We moved to CS about 10 months ago, and only looked seriously in North End. We got lucky and found a house (mid-century ranch with a nice addition) that fell into our price range (we bought, but were prepared to rent, if we couldn't find something we liked). Needs some updating, but perfectly livable for the time being. If we had gone to the 'burbs, we could have found newer and fancier digs for the money, but we wouldn't have had the great neighborhood or location we wanted. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[mommy_takes_pics]

thanks that looks like a great area on google earth, lot's of older homes. could you possibly suggest a few subdivisions and provide some street names? I'd like to just compare older homes with newer homes. Having a child being in a secure area is very important, we are use to a small community with parks and family activities.

[Carrera32]

Others can weigh in here, as I'm not that knowledgeable about the local 'burbs. The area that many use as the benchmark suburb is Briargate. It's about a 10-15 minute drive directly north of COS. Established suburb with typical homes selling from the mid-200s. Another suburb that gets positive comments is Stetson Hills (newer, fewer trees). If I were to live in a suburban area, it would be to the West of I-25 in areas such as Rockrimmon and areas surrounding it, or just south of there, with anything with Broadmoor in its name (expect higher prices in the Broadmoor area).