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My husband will possibly be transferring to work at Schriever AFB this summer (as a civilian DOD). I have one son starting high school next year. I have read the posts about D20 and Briargate. so we will concentrate looking in that area.
The realtor is taking us around in the morning to the BF, Falcon and Peyton areas to look at houses because she said those are the areas with the best commute to Schriever and have the property and houses that match our needs. I have learned from this forum about the wind and snow drifting that occurs out there, as well as Sand Creek HS bursting at the seams. Is it just a waste of our time to check out those areas? I am going to have a hard enough transition to the weather as it is coming from So. Calif.
Do you think it would be wise to limit our search to Briargate, Gleneagle and Northgate? We can spend between 200-350K. We want trees, nice size yard and good neighborhoods. I have found out all of my info from this forum, not from my realtor. Maybe I need a new realtor!
I'm biased towards the north end of town...Briargate, Cordera, Wolf Ranch and the whole Powers corridor up here. A new hospital opened last week with another due late this year. New SuperTarget, Lowe's, King Soopers, YMCA, more coming.
Stop by the Shops at Briargate, just off of I-25 and exit 151. Go to the Cordera, they have maps of the ENTIRE north end, many thousands of acres, much already developed, more to come. The ladies there can show you the full plan for the north end. Most everything up here is new or newish. Lower crime up here per the police maps.
Search www.realtor.com (broken link) on zip 80920 to see what's available here in your price range - a lot. D20 schools up here. The heavy concentration of USAF types up here has strong influence on D20, many science and aerospace classes plus IB and AP.
Commuting isn't a big deal from most areas, including those I recommend.
Falcon and Peyton are out the Woodman Rd corridor. Currently that's a 2-lane road east of Powers and it can get heavy. Plans are to widen it, but expect 2-3 years or more of construction work and delays.
Check the utility providers out there, not sure who they are. Here close to town you'll get Col Springs Utilities, who are city owned and have reasonable rates. The COOP out east just had some big problems with a storm and people are still without power, a week later. Ouch. We get all services (gas, electric, water, sewer) from CSU and I think they are excellent. Our house here is twice the size of the one we had back in the DC area, but the utility costs are the same or less each month....I'm a believer.
Summary: D20, zip 80920, Col Spgs Utilitities, Powers corridor north of Woodmen.
I'm sitting on about 38 acres of wide open land on top of a hill out here in Peyton. I'm on Propane Gas, MVEA Electricity, Water Well, and Septic. Our house is 1,000' from Elbert Road. We are responsible for clearing our road, keeping the water flowing, etc. My experience living out here in Peyton will be quite different than someone living in Woodman Hills (major housing development where the management is responsible for clearing the roads, keeping the water and gas flowing, etc).
If you like a lot of acreage and living in rural areas, then you have to accept the negatives that go with that. Mountain View Electric Association (MVEA) has a lot of area to cover and the houses are spaced far apart. It is not easy to have all these power poles out in the wide open spaces, taking the direct brunt of the wind, snow and rain, and keep it all running smooth. I think they have done a very good job overall.
But if you want peace of mind and an infrastructure so you can come home and not have to worry about the gas, power, water, sewage and all that, avoid rural areas and stick with nice housing developments. I think the North area of Colorado Springs is pretty upscale and nice.
I think you are doing the exact right thing, looking into the right places. I work at Schriever now and I used to live in So Cal too. We moved here last June 2006. I lived in Socal all my life (45 years). I
just moved to near Monument, CO. What made you decide to move to Colorado (other than the fact the life in SoCal sucks)? Another benefit of living in extreme northern COS is that you are close to Denver
(Tech Center, Lockheed - Waterton Canyon, even Boeing Aurora) if you had to search for jobs outside the COS area. Northrop Grumman is building a new huge facility near the COS airport too. These Denver areas
are not really more than an hour away so living in northern COS affords you the ability to find jobs in two metropolitan areas. The commute from Monument to Schriever is exactly 50 minutes (plus about ten
minutes of walking once you get there) so for the places you are considering it is maybe 35-40 plus ten, very easy, semi-scenic minutes that is, no traffic. You are lucky (in a sense) you missed out on this
year's winter - it was brutal even by the locals' standards. I thought it was fun but the drive to/from Schriever was kind of scary a couple of times. Lastly, once you are here and you begin to socialize,
you will meet more native Californians here than you knew in California.
Last edited by katzenfreund; 11-14-2008 at 07:15 PM..
We moved from Cali also, originally from SD, then kept moving north to Long Beach, then Elk Grove, and finally Roseville. The only thing we miss in CA are the weather in SD and our church family in Loomis.
We are in Falcon now, and one advise we had that really paid off is the direction of your house. Make sure your driveway is facing east. There are 2 benefits, 1) you get mountain view on your deck if you have a walkout basement, 2) you get to help or watch your neighbor across the street shovel snow off their driveway. Even with such a bad winter, I did not have to shovel snow off our ~50' driveway, just left it melt after each storm while all our neighbors with driveways facing west and north were plowing like crazy.
We did look at Briargate and Cordera development and liked them very much, but it was more expensive and you don't get as much backyard as we got in Falcon. Since we homeschool our boy, district 20 was not a factor. And I work from home quite a bit so commute is not a big issue for now. Once our new Falcon Wal-mart Supercenter opens, we won't have to go into town as much.
We were told water was more expensive here, but comparing with our water bill in Roseville, the use rate was slightly less, it was actually cheaper here since Roseville had a flat usage fee.
Welcome! I also moved from Calif...and have just TWO regrets...I miss the beach BIG time and my friends and family. One can always visit, but on beautiful days I can get sad missing those drives to the beach. I will take that longing over the wonderful life my husband and I have in Colorado Springs! We originally moved to Denver, then Woodland Park (mountains, beautiful, VERY small townish - not for me I decided - plus the altitude! Oye!), now we are in the Springs. I have a son in K and we live in D49 and we LOVE it! The houses are sensibly priced...as my mother told me, you can't even buy a townhome in Watts for the price of the houses out here! There you go! Another plus! The LACK of traffic is amazing! When we lived in WPark, the commute to the Springs was maybe 30-45 mins. but NO traffic and TONS of beauty! I used to sit on the 101 for 1 hr. every a.m. to get to work in traffic with people who wouldn't let me over and were rude, etc., etc. - I'm sure you know all about this. There have been some "issues" with the district 20 school and I've heard that D49 is pretty darn good and I believe it! The quality of life here is incredible, the people are wonderful - you can actually walk down the street, smile at a stranger, comment about the weather and they won't pull a gun on you or look at you as if you want something from them! The pay here is much better than Calif. EVER was and I lived from L.A. to Central Coast, Northern Calif., Santa Cruz...up and down that coast! The altitude adjustment can be intense, once you adapt, you are home free to a wonderful life! I am excited for you guys! Any ways, check out District 49 area, you won't be dissapointed. I know a couple and the husband commutes to Shrever from Falcon area and it is only (I think) 1/2 hr. That area is some what flat, country which could be quite a shock coming from Calif. Just another thing to think about....Sorry if I've rambled, but I've been where you are and I sure wish ya luck! Let me know how everything goes! D
I have never lived in a place like El Paso County. I use to go to Colorado Springs down Woodmen Road when it was just an old two-lane road (read: two years ago). Then they decided that Woodmen Road was in need of a major upgrade. So they upgraded the two-lane road to a TWO-LANE ROAD. Now they are going to make it a 4-lane road. Around here, if you ever have to use your brakes for any reason, they feel they must upgrade the road. They are going to upgrade Hodgen Road. Will spend 12 million dollars on the first phase. It's a two-lane road that will be a nicer TWO-LANE ROAD when they are done.
As it stands now, I almost never drop below 45 MPH for the 20+ mile trip to Colorado Springs - no matter what road I decide to take.
Yes, I understand that the central part of Colorado Springs might have some serious traffic, but wow, I use to spend an hour in traffic to go 10 miles in most places I have lived. This place is like a wide open raceway.
We live in Antelope and will most likely be moving to the Springs mid-January. Any advice? We're also considering Falcon, but it might be more commute to Northwest CS for my husband's work than we're ready for. The tip about having your house face east was great! Thanks!
We're also new homeschoolers... just turned our affadavit in this past October, and I'm wondering what I'm going to have to do to move our private school to Colorado! I keep meaning to join HSLDA, but haven't done it yet. What was your experience like if I might be so bold to ask? Did you do anything special to relocate your private school?
sharon in N. Calif
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluev103
We moved from Cali also, originally from SD, then kept moving north to Long Beach, then Elk Grove, and finally Roseville. The only thing we miss in CA are the weather in SD and our church family in Loomis.
We are in Falcon now, and one advise we had that really paid off is the direction of your house. Make sure your driveway is facing east. There are 2 benefits, 1) you get mountain view on your deck if you have a walkout basement, 2) you get to help or watch your neighbor across the street shovel snow off their driveway. Even with such a bad winter, I did not have to shovel snow off our ~50' driveway, just left it melt after each storm while all our neighbors with driveways facing west and north were plowing like crazy.
We did look at Briargate and Cordera development and liked them very much, but it was more expensive and you don't get as much backyard as we got in Falcon. Since we homeschool our boy, district 20 was not a factor. And I work from home quite a bit so commute is not a big issue for now. Once our new Falcon Wal-mart Supercenter opens, we won't have to go into town as much.
We were told water was more expensive here, but comparing with our water bill in Roseville, the use rate was slightly less, it was actually cheaper here since Roseville had a flat usage fee.
We live in Antelope and will most likely be moving to the Springs mid-January. Any advice? We're also considering Falcon, but it might be more commute to Northwest CS for my husband's work than we're ready for.
Not a bad drive at all to Falcon from NW COS. Where in NW COS? I am familiar with the roads.
Powers and Woodmen is now an interchange - no lights anymore Powers goes straight through over a bridge. It's a straight shot to Falcon.
If you want trees and nice sized yards and good schools, you can definitely find them in District 20. We live in District 20 but on the southern tail end part. (The next street over and you're in District 11.) This is an older, established neighborhood with LOTS of kids, bus service to your local D20 school (stops almost in front of my house actually, for elem/middle/high school) and we back to a greenbelt (can't see my neighbors in the back) and all the houses around here have great sized yards and TREES! I remember looking around at all the new housing being built east of Powers and there's no trees and no yards. Ok, a baby tree that was planted 5 years ago. But no TREEEEES. You know, pines, the big tall ones, and aspens, the big tall ones that provide lots of shade and greenery in the spring and summer.
Have your realtor show you the homes in zipcode 80918 or 80919 that are in District 20. Since they're older homes, you'll definitely find more bang for your buck here than in the newer, farther north zipcodes of 80920, 21, 22. Just my opinion! Those are nice homes, but when we were looking....they wanted so much more for the house and it wasn't worth it to us. Plus, with us being a little more 'centrally' located, the snow is not as bad as it is on the far extreme north end of the Springs or Black Forest.
BTW--I am also from So Cal, born and raised there, moved to the Springs in 2002....and love it. The snow and driving in snow will take some getting used to - but overall we have much more here than we could have ever had in So Cal.
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Rural Living
Hey Aussie lover!
