interested in moving to CO Springs, single income, 3 small children, your opinions welcome! (rental)

[benevolentbob]

hello all! Let me preface this thread by saying that I'm sure that many of my questions could be resolved by continued research on this site and others, which I would gratefully do, but for the tediousness of my phone based web browsing limits due to my inability to get decent internet at reasonable rates in my particular location. So, if all would overlook this small infraction of the forums organizational guidelines and share some contructive feedback, I would be most grateful.

I am married and have 3 small children likely 5,3,1 at the time we would be able to move. I have an associates degree in business and have work as a supervisor in water utilities for the last four years.

At 24 I realize there's much time left for continued education and new career choices. I'm interested in pursuing a career in ministry and it seems like springs, with it's large christian presence would afford many opportunities to do this.

I have been in east tx all my life and I've always been looking to the mountains. I'm excited about getting a fresh start with my family but I've got a few concerns as I've never made such a distant move and am unfamiliar with the area.

We plan to homeschool hence the single income.

We don't mind living in a small place as we plan on taking every advantage of the outdoor recreation this place has to offer.

Also we would like to have our kids in extra curriculars so the activities the different districts offer are important, as is low crime. I've read about different neighborhoods being better or worse.

I like what I've read about downtown, old co city, manitou. Just wondering if there are BAD parts of town within those communities. Certain notorious streets and the like.

I'm also concerned about the cuts to parks,street lights, police, etc that might affect the quality of life. Hows the budget this year? Any more cuts? Can you tell a difference? And how bad is the water shortage? Is it as bad as east texas has had lately?

I'm looking for the best place I can afford in the parts of town that seem to have the most to offer (views, culture,schools,low crime,close to mountains) we don't mind having a SMALL house for our big family, but I'm wondering if landlords will feel the same way. I'm planning on securing a job before moving and I'm guessing that I will be able to afford a rent of 700ish. Found some small places in the NICE parts of town but am wondering if they might be in the BAD parts of NICE parts of town being so cheap.

That being said, some things I like about CO Springs that I've read so far are these

1.Proximity to mountains and outdoor recreation
2.Lack of smothering humidity and the prospect of 4 seasons
3.Family friendly atmosphere/vibe

[Mike from back east]

For sure, the budget cuts that caused the turning off of street lights has passed; the lights are back on, and quality of life is not affected.

Most of the town is safe, including the parts you mention. It will be hard to find nice digs for a family of 5 on a $700 budget.

Use padmapper.com to see what rental prices are like.

[benevolentbob]

thanks for the reply, and do you edit these posts? If so, thank you for that too cause I don't remember having all those appropriatly divided paragraphs in my original post!

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by benevolentbob

thanks for the reply, and do you edit these posts? If so, thank you for that too cause I don't remember having all those appropriatly divided paragraphs in my original post!

Yes, I will sometimes edit them to add carriage returns for sake of readability. If I do it soon enough after someone posts, it doesn't even show up as having been edited.

[Carrera32]

Mike - A "carriage return!" There aren't that many of us left out there who even know what that phrase means, other than some cart pulled by a horse. Glad to see a few of us dinosaurs still roam the earth.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

Mike - A "carriage return!" There aren't that many of us left out there who even know what that phrase means, other than some cart pulled by a horse. Glad to see a few of us dinosaurs still roam the earth.

Yep, learned typing in 1965 in Miss Clark's "Business" class as a Junior at Catonsville High School .... a semi s l d k f j ....

[Carrera32]

I learned on my mother's L.C. Smith & Sons (later became Smith Corona) No. 5 manual that dates back to the 1920's. Still have it in my office. Still works, and it has a great curved and chromed "carriage return arm." They're not kidding when they say they don't make 'em like that anymore. Recently showed it to some visiting teenagers. They were fascinated with it and were actually distracted for oh, about a minute or so, before returning to their texting and electronic games.