Colorado Springs, Fountain, Peyton, etc? (Denver, Black Forest: relocate, military, travel)

[Daniel24]

Hey all, my wife and I are planning on moving to colorado within the next year to year and a half. I know thats sort of a long way away but we just bought a house where live now in Idaho and need to wait a while to sell it. I work for HP here and am looking to relocate to their site in Colorado Springs. As we're going through house listings for Colorado Springs and neighboring towns I was just wondering if anybody knew of places to avoid. I know I've read a million and one posts such as this, with many responses like "it depends on what you're looking for" etc. So I'll address those right now :P We're looking to spend up to approx $250k, dont have kids yet but do have two large dogs and WILL start a family after we move. We would LIKE to have several acres where we could have horses, though know a lot of the houses on those types of property are older manufactured homes. If we have to live in a suburb we went a REALLY nice place, approx 2000 square feet. I've looked at colorado springs, fountain, and peyton. It would be REALLY convenient to live in the city but if we could have a nice place with property within decent driving distance that would be great. We're also concerned of course about crime and..you know...dirtiness.. We're really not as big of snobs as that sounds, but you all know what I mean when you drive through a town and just think "heck no, this place stinks" or "this place is REALLY trashy". Any advice would be helpful, thanks!

[Charles]

Those places: Peyton, Falcon, Ellicot might be what you are looking for. Keep working the internet databases (realtor.com). Those places are not a bad drive into Colorado Springs east side but they may be a hassle drive to the I-25 (not sure where HP is). COS East-West commuting isn't very efficient - though they are working on it like Woodmen Road and the 24 - it will be a couple of years.

Tip: The farther north you are, the easier it is to get to Denver for a future job.

[soontob]

Originally Posted by Daniel24

Hey all, my wife and I are planning on moving to colorado within the next year to year and a half. I know thats sort of a long way away but we just bought a house where live now in Idaho and need to wait a while to sell it. I work for HP here and am looking to relocate to their site in Colorado Springs. As we're going through house listings for Colorado Springs and neighboring towns I was just wondering if anybody knew of places to avoid. I know I've read a million and one posts such as this, with many responses like "it depends on what you're looking for" etc. So I'll address those right now :P We're looking to spend up to approx $250k, dont have kids yet but do have two large dogs and WILL start a family after we move. We would LIKE to have several acres where we could have horses, though know a lot of the houses on those types of property are older manufactured homes. If we have to live in a suburb we went a REALLY nice place, approx 2000 square feet. I've looked at colorado springs, fountain, and peyton. It would be REALLY convenient to live in the city but if we could have a nice place with property within decent driving distance that would be great. We're also concerned of course about crime and..you know...dirtiness.. We're really not as big of snobs as that sounds, but you all know what I mean when you drive through a town and just think "heck no, this place stinks" or "this place is REALLY trashy". Any advice would be helpful, thanks!

Pryton and Falcon would be places you could have the land. Fountain, in my opinion, is not the best part of town to live in, not as safe as Briargate or Stetson Hills.
Hope that helps.

[Daniel24]

That definitely helps. We bought a house here in a town 35 minutes from work in Boise that some people said was kind of sketchy, it definitely depends on the part of town here, but thats exactly what I wanted to know.

[Daniel24]

Good point I'm going to see exactly where it is, I have the address and know it's on Rock Rimmon Way or Rd, thanks for the advice. Is Peyton a decent little town? Or is it more old and run down? That would be great if it was just a little town with some nice property. I drive a ways to work now and dont mind a half hour drive if it means we can have horses.

[Mike from back east]

Rockrimmon is on the west side. From Peyton, it would probably take 45+ minutes to commute each way. Not nice. Like Charles said, east-west travel here is not good. But if you're hardover on acreage and horses, your price range pushes you out to Peyton.

Not sure if you can meet all your criteria in Monument, Palmer Lake, Black Forest or other area on the far north side of town, which is a 30 minute drive to HP, or an hour to south Denver/DTC if employment takes you that way.

You could live in a SFH very close to HP and board the horses out, but I think boarding them costs about $250.00 per horse/month.

[Daniel24]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Rockrimmon is on the west side. From Peyton, it would probably take 45+ minutes to commute each way. Not nice. Like Charles said, east-west travel here is not good. But if you're hardover on acreage and horses, your price range pushes you out to Peyton.

Not sure if you can meet all your criteria in Monument, Palmer Lake, Black Forest or other area on the far north side of town, which is a 30 minute drive to HP, or an hour to south Denver/DTC if employment takes you that way.

You could live in a SFH very close to HP and board the horses out, but I think boarding them costs about $250.00 per horse/month.

That would be great. SFH = Single Family Home right? It WOULD be nice if someone else took care of the horses anyhow so we could travel easier. One downside to moving of course is being further away from family. There's actually some really nice places we've seen online in colorado springs for our price range, lots of square feet and it seems like everybody is basement crazy :P Thanks for the help, do you have any recommendations as far as boarders?

[Daniel24]

As it'd be really convenient to live in Colorado Springs my wife has read some posts in threads about how bad it is there - overrun by califorians with road rage, and icy roads. Does the city take care of the roads with deicer and plowing well? Thanks.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Daniel24

As it'd be really convenient to live in Colorado Springs my wife has read some posts in threads about how bad it is there - overrun by califorians with road rage, and icy roads. Does the city take care of the roads with deicer and plowing well? Thanks.

Californians with road rage? I haven't sensed that. COS seems like a pretty mellow place to drive (plus, and it might be my imagination and my consistent driving routes to an Air Force Base, but I noticed a lot of safe conscientious drivers maybe because they are ex military and pay attention to things like safety....not sure...). I usually don't drive in the City of Colorado Springs, mostly on the outskirts roads like Hodgen, Meridian, and Curtis - out in the country. I'm an ex-Californian and I'm probably the most timid driver in the state of Colorado.

The icy roads? Yes, they are there but compared to the east and midwest and other places with a lot of less sun melting, the ice melts fast I think. I have to drive to work this morning on the ice and I am just going to drive really slow and let people pass me.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Daniel24

... my wife has read some posts in threads about how bad it is there - overrun by califorians with road rage, and icy roads.

That's a totally bogus perception. Come visit, see for yourself.