Relocation to Colorado Springs. Best Neighborhoods/Areas to Purchase Home In? (Pueblo: for sale, renting)

[ABMGMDL]

Hello everyone. My husband and I found out that we would be relocating to Colorado Springs area in December/January time frame. We are a military family, and my husband will be working in the Security-Widefield area. We've never been to the Springs, but we've been doing a little bit of research about the safest/best neighborhoods to purchase in and have been getting quite a bit of conflicting information, so I'm taking it to here to ask where the best places to purchase are.

Just a couple questions if anyone feels like helping us out here:
- What are some safe, recommended neighborhoods/areas? We have come across quite a few homes that we have fallen in love with, but unfortunately, the vast array of them are in a HOA. We have 4 dogs, so living in a HOA is virtually impossible unless they allow multiple pets. Coming from Northwest Arkansas where even the vast majority of "premier" or "wealthy" neighborhoods do not have a HOA, we were quite surprised to see that at least 80% of the homes we love in CO Springs have one.

- What about Pueblo West? We noticed that it's a more rural community with less HOA presence and we have found a few beautiful homes there for sale. Is this area safer than Pueblo? Being military, we know quite a few people who have been stationed at Carson and many have told us to avoid Pueblo at all costs because of crime.

- Does anyone live in a community with no established HOA but HOA covenants? We have also found a great deal of homes that do not have a HOA, but have covenants (typically established by builders) that may prohibit certain things (i.e., changing siding on house without approval). We were curious as to whether 4 dogs would be permitted in these types of neighborhoods. I know that the city limits dog ownership to 4.

Thanks so much! We're looking forward to moving up there soon, albeit this house hunting process has been quite tricky!

[beezle1]

Don't assume just that if there is an HOA that they will have restrictions on number of pets above and beyond what is allowed otherwise in that area. You may see if often on condos and townhomes, but probably not as frequently on single family homes. As you start looking at homes, ask your realtor if they can locate a copy of the CCR's (covenants) for you to check out before going under contract. They may or may not be able to get them to you, but they could at least ask the listing agent about any pet restrictions. And certainly, when you go under contract for a home, you should review the CCR's and any other HOA documenation like meeting minutes during your due diligence period, in case there is anything in there you cannot live with.

I live in a semi-rural community that has covenants but no HOA. There is basically an architecture committee that reviews and approves all new building, but that is it. There are good things and bad things about this - one of the bad things is that if there is someone who violates the covenants, like with tons of junk in their yard or something, there is really nothing they can do as there are no funds to pursue any legal action.

[TCHP]

Please share with us some additional requirements of what you are looking for. This will improve the nature of our recommendations. The thing is if you are finding predominately HOA or covenanted communities, then there may be some other items you want that are tending to point you towards these homes that we are unaware of. I'd actually venture that the majority of Colo Spgs homes fall under neither of these points, but a large percentage of homes built in the last 20 years may.

Pueblo West is an entirely different animal than Pueblo proper. It also is not a legal city or town but rather a special district, which can have a significant influence on what it can or can't do. It is run by a 5 member board of directors elected by residents. Travel from Pueblo West to Widefield isn't awful, but it's volume is increasing yearly. It is also rare that it is impassible due to weather, but when it it, its usually very bad. Climate difference between Colo Spgs area and Pueblo West is also quite a bit different with Pueblo West being considerably drier and hotter.

[otowi]

Why not Fountain or Security Widefield? It would make sense given your husband's job and military. There's nothing 'unsafe' about the area, and there are quite a few options that are not HOA. Is there something making you eliminate it as where you would look first given the job etc.? Not sure about Fountain rules, but Security Widefield is county and the county sets a max at 4 dogs so you should make it by there. There are also rural options right on the outskirts of Fountain and Security Widefield that would be closer than Pueblo West.

[ABMGMDL]

Hello again, everyone! Thank you all so much for the prompt replies!

As far as Security-Widefield goes, we definitely are open to that, but have not found current homes on the market there that we are interested in, and it seems as if homes in that area tend to go quicker than those in surrounding areas. We found three homes in the Fountain area that we loved that went from "new" to "pending" on Realtor.com in less than 3 days. While it seems like the houses sell quick in all of CO Springs, for some reason we're noticing them sell even quicker in that area, probably because the asking prices are excellent compared to similar homes in other neighborhoods.

We will definitely look into the individual HOAs and their regulations on pets, as well as different covenants. I'm sure not ALL HOAs in the area have incredibly strict pet regulations, so we will have to look into them individually provided we find a home we are interested in in a HOA.

Lastly, we're looking for something at around $300K. Preferably a newer home or an older, renovated home in a safe neighborhood. We're pretty easy going people, so we're pretty open when it comes to many locations. Safety is our biggest concern.

Just a side note, when we found out we were moving up there and I searched for homes on Realtor/Zillow, my jaw dropped at the cost of living. Interesting what $300K could get you in different parts of the country. There, it hopefully can get us a nice, livable place. Here in NW Arkansas, you'd be living large LOL.

Have a great night, everyone!

[DrDog]

Military family meaning husband is active duty? Meaning you could be moving again in a few years?

[ABMGMDL]

DrDog - We move every 3 years. He is active duty. We're basically forced to purchase because of our pet situation. However, he only has one more duty station left after this and he will retire, so we are strongly looking at CO being our forever home. If we like it enough, kids and I will remain there while he will PCS to one last station for 3 years.

[abcdefg567]

Originally Posted by otowi

Why not Fountain or Security Widefield? It would make sense given your husband's job and military. There's nothing 'unsafe' about the area, and there are quite a few options that are not HOA. Is there something making you eliminate it as where you would look first given the job etc.? Not sure about Fountain rules, but Security Widefield is county and the county sets a max at 4 dogs so you should make it by there. There are also rural options right on the outskirts of Fountain and Security Widefield that would be closer than Pueblo West.

Agreed, sounds perfect for them. For the concern about how quick they go per op's post below, that's going to be all over in their price range.

[ABMGMDL]

Agreed about the price range comment. Unfortunately, the Army doesn't seem to regard mortgage trends when calculating basic housing allowance, which is largely based on cost of renting. The BAH in Colorado Springs definitely does not match the cost of living/purchasing, which is odd considering in many larger cities around the U.S. where the average cost of a home is $200K, the BAH is much higher than it is for soldiers in Colorado Springs. I spoke with a realtor who told us that in our range, we are competing with a lot of buyers. Obviously the higher the home cost, the less competition. It's definitely a challenge, but I'm optimistic. We just have to act quick.

When did the housing market start drastically increasing there? I know, about 10 years ago, a family member of mine bought a brand new home in a very nice community for around $210K. That would be a pipe dream now.

[TCHP]

House pricing has really escalated over the last 5 years.

Fountain, Security, Widefeild housing tends to be $50-100k less than the exact same house in points north of Woodmen Rd. This is why it goes so quickly. Although nearly any house under $300k tends to be on and off the market rapidly.