Retirement in Colorado Springs & VA clinic question (Denver, Air Force Academy: 2014, apartment)

[catagonia]

Hi,

My husband and I are retired and thinking of moving to Colorado Springs, we now live in Northern CA where $800 will get you a room to rent! He is a swimmer and I enjoy yoga.Any lap pool suggestions? We can afford to rent for around $800-to $900 a month and prefer a quiet area. A small 2 bedroom house would be preferable. Since we are both veterans, anyone have experience with the local VA clinic? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks

[MrsMac]

My husband uses the local VA clinic for 90% of his medical needs and he is thrilled that they are close to completing a beautiful, brand new, much larger facility here in Colorado Springs. Right now you have to go to the downtown Denver VA hospital for a lot of the testing (they pay you mileage but it can take an hour there and another back for a 10 minute test) and specialty appointments but they have assured him that a lot of that will be eliminated once the new facility here opens.

[catagonia]

Thank you for your reply! We have a new VA clinic here, but we can't afford to live here. I get all my care from the VA, my husband gets about 90% of his care with the VA. When will the new one open? What area of Colorado Springs would you recommend? thanks again…...

[Mike from back east]

padmapper.com will find rentals, but it'll be hard at $800-900 month. Avoid the S.E. area of town, all else is okay.

[MrsMac]

At your price range you will probably have to look for a townhouse or condo rather than a single family home. As for area, I prefer the northern part of town (it's just prettier and I love being close to the mountains) and you couldn't pay me enough money to move back out to the Falcon area. The Air Force Academy is also up here so we are close to the commissary (it's smaller so for big shopping we go down to Peterson AFB), BX and pharmacy, which is convenient.

The new VA outpatient clinic is supposed to open in spring 2014.

[catagonia]

I really appreciate the information, will definitely check out pad mapper.

[lurtsman]

I think you can find a single family home in the security-widefield area that has two bedrooms for under 900. If you were able to buy (get bank financing, have a down payment) you can definitely buy a fairly nice two bedroom home with a PITI (principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) payment of under 900 per month. You can probably do it in the security-widefield area on a monthly payment around 600 to 650 if you were buying.

[Moman1]

At the price range you are looking for, there are a few places to get into a small home for that price. Just make sure you stay away from certain areas. That price range puts you in some not-so-nice areas with crime. I agree with a previous poster that you might be better served to find a condo or townhome for that price.

El Paso County (Colorado Springs) has 58% of Colorado's military retirees. That says something.

Good Luck!

[catagonia]

Thanks for your suggestions, I very much appreciate it! After California a condo or town home for $900 sounds great! In California that would get us a room or a studio apartment.