Stay in the Denver area or jump to Springs? (Colorado Springs: for sale, rentals)

[awayinco]

So, I’m having a bit of a quandary and looking for input. This will be at least 12-18 months down the road, but I’ve got the itch to start researching, so here goes.

I recently finished my BA in Applied Social Sciences and was accepted into a Masters program (distance learning program with required campus visits once a year) and am expected to graduate in two and a half years. Hubby has aspirations to be a teacher and in school for that. He’s a seasonal employee right now with work through November, while I work full-time for a local government office. Two kiddos under 10, and we will be looking at buying a house.

We currently live just north of Denver. I like the general accessibility of things in our area, and work is only 10 minutes down the road. The job I have now has excellent benefits and pays decently, but my career will be shifting completely away from this field once I graduate and finish the clinical hours needed for my LCSW. I love the mountains, but we’re not really into hiking/backpacking/skiing, etc. like so many are up here. My husband is in the military (National Guard), so being near an installation is a necessity. We both have family within a 15-mile drive of our house.

The downside to the Denver-metro area for me is the price. A 1200-sq foot house in need of a little work with a tiny yard in this area will cost us easily $175-200k. While that is within our price range, it is not what we really want. We actually looked into buying before we signed the lease on this house, but could not find a house we liked that was not wayyy outside of our price range. I would like to look for a place with at least an acre of land, preferably zoned for horses, since I spent the better part of 20 years with them, and I miss them dearly.

I’ve been tossing around the idea of moving to the Colorado Springs area for a few months now. I lived there for a couple of years before I met my husband, and I really enjoyed it there. I know that the outlying areas (Peyton, Calhan, Fountain) have the space that we’re looking for, much closer to our price range, and without as many repairs and upgrades necessary as the houses I’ve seen in the Denver area. I have family in southern Colorado that we don’t get to visit nearly as often as we should, and being in that area would make the trips much easier. Springs also has a slew of military people, which is beneficial for my career plan once I finish my Masters degree.

Even if the husband and I hang out closer to Denver until we both finish school and secure entry-level jobs in our fields, I think a home in the metro area with the amenities that we want will be out of our price range. Herein lies my problem: stay in the Denver area and settle for a home that really isn’t what we want because it’s what we can afford, or move to the Springs area once we’ve finished school and buy a house that is more what we want?

[Mike from back east]

I think you've answered it already, COLO SPGS is it.

Use ppar.com to look at what's available here, both in rentals and homes for sale.

Getting an acre or more for horses, in your price range, most likely means you'll be out east of town.

There are some places around to board a horse which would let you live close-in and that may be a worthy compromise.