Recommended Neighborhoods for Young Couple (No Kids) (Fort Collins, Elizabeth: apartment complexes, rental)

[Slash44Jr]

Hi all-

My husband and I will be moving to Ft Collins this June as he has been hired at Colorado State University.

We grew up in a college town similar to Ft. Collins (Iowa City, IA) but since we haven't spent much time in Ft Collins, we need some input on neighborhoods.

We have spent the past 5 years living in an apartment in San Jose, CA so one of our requirements is either a small rental house or townhouse/condo (no more apartment complexes!) =)

We also would like to be located in areas where a lot of people our age live (late 20's, early 30's) but not in neighborhoods with the CSU students.

Do these criteria bring any neighborhoods to mind? More info: we are very active (sports, outdoors) and we love to eat out; those 2 things take up most of our time outside of work! Hopefully that will give you all a good starting point.

We will be in town searching for places next weekend so I truly appreciate whatever advice you can lay on me!

Thanks in advance!

[Mike Weber]

There are lots of good places to live in Fort Collins. If you avoid the areas immediately adjacent (within +- .25-.5 mile north, east, south, and 1.25 mile west) to the campus, you will avoid much of the student population, but be aware that students live in many parts of town. The Old Town area has some nice homes close to some cool dining and entertainment options. Most of the main dining options are in Old Town, up and down the College Avenue corridor, the east Harmony corridor, and the Campus West area on west Elizabeth.
The west side of town provides easier access to the mountains for hiking, mountain biking, climbing, etc.
Except during the time around 4:30 - 5:30pm, you can get most anywhere in town in about 20 minutes.

[petunia2]

Would love to hear what you found, slash, as we're in a similar situation. I'm also wondering about property managers. There are so many. I'd probably like to avoid those that cater to students, as they're probably not a good match, but I don't know which ones those may be. I am looking for + or - feedback on property managers. I know in my current town there's one I would definitely want to avoid.

[Davros]

I've known a lot of grad students who've lived in the southwestern part of town. I'm talking like south of Prospect and west of Shields. I also knew a couple of grad students and instructors who lived southeast of College and Prospect. Not sure if that's old enough for you, but any neighborhood in the areas I've mentioned will more likely than not have young families living in it. Any housing complex south of Drake will almost certainly not be dominated by undergrads.

Your husband could possibly ask his future colleagues for any ideas.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Rent somewhere for a year, and then move on if you don't like it.