I've got my mind set on Colorado Springs. Is this the best place to live in Colorado? (Denver: foreclosures, to rent)

[skog74]

I have lived in California my whole life. I am 34 years old, married, and have two children....2 and 7 months old. My wife and I have lived in the San Joaquin Valley our entire lives and are sick and tired of it . We want to move BADLY, and definitely want to move to a different state. I've done a lot of research on Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado. I had my mind set on Oregon for the longest time, but decided the rain and cloudy weather would get to us. After a lot of research I've decided that Colorado Springs sounds like a great place to live and raise a family. I hear you get 4 full seasons (awesome) and it's pretty conservative (which we are). The thing about living in the San Joaquin Valley is the air quality is one of the worst in the country, the gangs are getting worse, only about 9 inches of rain a year, and the summers are HOT!! A couple of years ago we broke a record....18 straight days of 105 or higher. Fresno, which is 45 minutes north of us, got up to 118 during that span. We hardly have a spring or fall. It will go from 70 degrees to 90 in about two weeks and then summer is hear to stay. One more thing....I'm not trying to sound racist, but the whites are a minority now. We have so many non english-speaking hispanics in this area. A lot of the gangs we have are hispanic and asian. We want to get away so badly . I want to raise my kids in a better area. Can you please help me in my decision process? Is Colorado Springs the way to go? What about Pueblo, Boulder, Fort Collins, or any other city? I REALLY appreciate the help. We've never been to Colorado but it sounds amazing. We don't need a lot of rain....just more than 9 inches a year, and the average high in the summer of high 80's sounds wonderful to me. I'm sorry I'm rambling as so scatterbrained. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR HELPING!!

[Mike from back east]

Most of what you hear is true; about COLO SPGS and COLO in general. Here in COLO SPGS we get maybe 12 inches of precip a year, have clean air and water, low humidity, mild temps, low crime, good schools.

Not sure what type of work you and your wife do, but if you find work here, you'll do fine. The job seems the major hurdle for anyone thinking of coming here. Get that squared away and I think all the other pieces will fit quite well.

Boulder is the priciest area here, but some nearby towns are reasonable. Next most expensive is probably Denver proper, though there is much there that is also reasonable. COLO SPGS is more affordable than most, near the mountains and very mild weather due to certain geography. Pueblo, Pueblo West and Canon City are warmer and even more affordable.

Use realtor.com to look at homes and prices in each city. Millions live here, there are housing styles and prices/rents to suit most budgets. Most newbies are wisest to rent a year to figure out what they like best. Housing prices are expected to fall further, few of us see any rush to buy.

Work the forums by using the indexes of key threads and using the search tools with whatever key words matter to you. If you read an old thread and still have a question on that topic, just add a new posting to the old thread and folks will reply.

Best to you in the search.

[Josseppie]

SKOG you asked:

"Can you please help me in my decision process? Is Colorado Springs the way to go? What about Pueblo, Boulder, Fort Collins, or any other city?"

Personally if I were you I would consider Pueblo. It is located 30 minues south of Colorado Springs and has a lot going on with new devlopments and is the business and shoping hub of the region. Here is a photo thread you can look at about Pueblo:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/color...ml#post6736580

Here is what CU Boulder says about both counties:

oPueblo County - Historically, Pueblo County has experienced moderate population growth. This trend will change when the Pueblo Springs Ranch is complete. The 23,000-acre subdivision in northeast Pueblo County is expected to have about 75,000 households, or 200,000 people when completed. The Historic Arkansas Riverwalk Project has begun to pay the economic dividends its creators intended. In August 2007, the new 44,000-square-foot headquarters of the Professional Bull Riders Association was dedicated, and new restaurants and other establishments have opened near the new building.

oSouthern Colorado (El Paso County) - El Paso County has been strongly influenced by rising foreclosures, stagnant wage increases, a weak residential construction industry and deployments of troops from Fort Carson to Iraq. All of these factors directly affect the region's employment, retail, wholesale and commercial activity, and the overall economic outlook of the region.

If you have any questions feel free to ask them and I will do my best to answer them!

[beezle1]

Plan a short vacation out here. That is what we did when we were first thinking of moving here. We stayed in Colorado Springs, which allowed us to drive to check out Pueblo and Denver. We discovered Black Forest during this trip, decided that was the area we wanted to move to, then even did a drive by of a few houses within our price range to make sure we could afford something we wanted. It worked out well for us - been here 15 years now!

[Amery523]

Having also lived my entire life in California (So Cal) before moving here 7 years ago, I want to caution you to make sure that SNOW is something you are all willing to deal with and enjoy. So many people want to come here and then after just one winter, decide that it's too cold and they don't like the snow or having to drive in it. You're talking a major expense to move just a year after moving here. The beauty of it here is that even though it may snow 1,2,3, 6 inches even, the next day is often very sunny and it's all melted away. It is NOT like Chicago in January here, and unfortunately many people think that we're always snowy, all the time. Not true. Our summers here can be quite warm too, in the 90s during the hottest part of the summer. Search this forum and you'll find several threads on "Should we get AC or not". Agree w/ Mike From Back East - if you can both find an income here, everything else will sort itself out. This forum has LOTS of useful info on it. Good luck to you guys!

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by Josseppie

Personally if I were you I would consider Pueblo.

Is there anyone you wouldn't suggest Pueblo to?

[FunBunch7]

Skog,

My family and I are in the same boat as you here in the Phoenix area. Except here, it's 110 degrees on October 1st!!!!

Our only trip to Colorado Springs was this past Thanksgiving to check it out. We are for sure moving there June 1st...I work from home and my wife is in medical billing so we're not too concerned about jobs.

Colorado Springs seems like the perfect place for us...we are conservative and would very much like a more active life style...there's not much to do in Arizona when it's 118 degrees in the shade. We would lose a foot of water in our pool every other day from evaporation.

I realize not being a current resident I'm not much help to you in your post...but maybe I can encourage you to "take the plunge"...we are!

[Josseppie]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Is there anyone you wouldn't suggest Pueblo to?

LOL not many but if someone was going to get a job in the high tech business I would caution them about Pueblo as we are industrial city. Well until we get the states largest tech park and the r&d parks and the energy park so I guess no lol

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Amery523

Having also lived my entire life in California (So Cal) before moving here 7 years ago, I want to caution you to make sure that SNOW is something you are all willing to deal with and enjoy. So many people want to come here and then after just one winter, decide that it's too cold and they don't like the snow or having to drive in it. You're talking a major expense to move just a year after moving here. The beauty of it here is that even though it may snow 1,2,3, 6 inches even, the next day is often very sunny and it's all melted away. It is NOT like Chicago in January here, and unfortunately many people think that we're always snowy, all the time. Not true. Our summers here can be quite warm too, in the 90s during the hottest part of the summer. Search this forum and you'll find several threads on "Should we get AC or not". Agree w/ Mike From Back East - if you can both find an income here, everything else will sort itself out. This forum has LOTS of useful info on it. Good luck to you guys!

Thanks for posting good stuff. Yes, we have A/C in our house. We're up near Pine Creek HS, right across from the USAFA stadium, and we will turn it on some of the warmer days, usually about noon, then turn if off when the sun goes down. Nothing like back east where we had A/C running constantly from early June to mid September.

[skog74]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the responses! Mike, as far as work goes, my wife stays home with the kids and I work for a homebuilder (scary huh). I've been looking for jobs as a land development superintendent and/or estimator on the civil engineering side of things. I don't build the homes, I oversee the civil improvements before the houses are built. Are these types of jobs in Colorado Springs or Pueblo? At this point though, I'm willing to do anything (no joke). I'm just hoping to find an income that's similar to what I make now so my wife can continue to stay home with the kids. Thanks again for the info!! KEEP IT COMING!!