Moving from Southern Utah to Colorado Springs...need some information! (Fountain: short sales, 2013)

[a_carolyn]

I am moving my family from St. George Utah to Colorado Springs either in February or March of this year, 2013. I have never lived outside of Utah, so I was hoping for some information on the city. A couple questions I have:

We want to buy a house right when we get there so we don't have to rent and then move multiple times. What are some good areas to move to with reasonable house prices. We've looked online and see plenty of houses for around 130k, and would like to stay in that range. We also have a new son, so safety and good schools are huge! Any suggestions?

Is this a good city to raise a family? I am sure it depends on what area you are in, but I want a fun and safe area for my son.

What are some of the fun things to do in the city? I have never snowboarded or skied anything, so I want to take that up, but any other fun things to do there?

Any advice or suggestions offered would be greatly appreciated!!

[Mike from back east]

Great city to raise a child.

Plenty of fun things here, many are free.

$130k will get a home here, look at ppar.com for whats in the local MLS.

Most of the area is safe, but I'd avoid the S.E. area, e.g. east of the Citadel Mall, etc.

Fountain and Security are just outside the city limits, and are good prospects.

[a_carolyn]

Thank you! Also, what would you all say are some of the better school districts to look at?

[Mike from back east]

From far north end of the county to south end of the metro area, the districts are:
D38
D20
D11 (some schools so-so)
D12
D8

D49 is out east of town and although many swear by it there has been a lot of turmoil on the school board

We've tons of threads on schools, use the search tool and/or the index of key threads

Really hard to go wrong here on schools

[lurtsman]

Mike's information is excellent. You can rely on it.

Your realtor won't be allowed to tell you which areas are high crime. People on this forum will certainly try. When we were first moving here I found some excellent "value" homes that turned out to be in very high crime areas. I decided not to buy there, despite being able to get an incredible amount of house for the money.

[otowi]

Southern Utah is a LOT smaller in feel to here, imho. I have some family out there and I think it is a much more family-oriented area than here. So I would advise you to consider something like Woodland Park, Monument or Palmer Lake to preserve a bit of that small town feel. As for things to do in town, there is quite a bit, but it depends on what your interests are. I'd suggest checking out the zoo early on as well as the hiking trails in North Cheyenne Canyon and the walking trails in Garden of the Gods.

[ryanek9freak]

What mike said, avoid the areas south and east of downtown, unless you go far enough south to be in Security/Widefield/Fountain.

If you can swing it, look for homes in these zip codes: 80904, 80905, some 80906 (depends on the area, stratmoor no, Broadmoor yes) 80907, 80917, 80918, 80919, 80920. The last three will be hard in your price range, but they're out there.

Stay in those zip codes and you cant go wrong. Avoid 80910 and 80916 like the plauge.

[ckdub]

Ryan, the newer subdivision, Spring Creek is in 80910. Is that not a good neighborhood? It looks like it would be...

[ryanek9freak]

Yes, Spring creek is new, but it's not in a good neighborhood. The houses are cheaply built, right on top of each other, and are built in an area where people used to dump their garbage before those houses were built.

Not that that's a bad thing, at least it looks better. The area around Circle/Hancock/Delta drive you should probably stay away from. Just avoid 80910 at all costs, because that's district 2, idk if you have kids or not, but people in hell will get ice water before I put my kids in D2.

[ChuckWartman]

I think you will love The Springs. Plan on a week to look for homes. I dont think you will have a problem finding a home. As long as you like the outdoors, you will have fun here. I Bought a 2nd vehicle, an old 4 runner, to take my kids up in the hills and go off roading. If you are in a hurry, stay away from homes that are short sales. Nothing wrong with them, they just can take 6 months to close. Try and make looking for your new home a fun time. Good Luck

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