Relocating to Colorado Springs (Monument: home builders, neighborhood, buyer)

[Jewjin]

Hello everyone!
We are planning to relocate in in Co. Springs hopefully next year after the school. We been searching different spec homes that are available in the area. We found a home plan from Campbell Homes in The Gables in Woodmen Rd. Is there anyone out there can share some feedbacks about the area, builder, school district for intermediate/middle school to high school. What about the Classic Homes? Which has a better reputations among this two builders? I'll appreciate all the help tips. Thank you.

[Mike from back east]

IIRC, both Campbell and Classic are local builders with good names, with Classic being very large and in a lot of communities. Other good local builders are Keller, Acuff, Symphony, Saddletree and Vantage, maybe more, but the names escape me now.

My realtor steered us away from the large national mass producers, some of which have had quality problems.

[ColoSpgsJamie]

I'd like to piggyback on some of Mike's comments. Builders began building in a frenzy around here and even some of the local builders were "cutting corners" so to speak to get houses done. To avoid being slanderous I'll just say "some" builders. I recommend to my clients to get a home inspection done. I know some people will balk at that. People say with Regional Building inspectors, check & balances systems, blah blah blah you don't need to worry. For the most part I agree, but I have had two instances where a buyer had a home inspector find faults in the new construction. Not minor issues mind you. One in particular the builder had not blown any insulation into a huge section of the ceiling. It was crazy. So for the $200 to $350 it costs for the inspection get piece of mind.

Second point, builders (just like Realtors) who spend the most money on websites and SEO get the most attention from the web savvy consumer. Lets face it, the top 10 in the Google search is who most people click on. Couple that with pay-per-click and other advertising dollars and those builders pull you in first. Not saying they are good or bad, just pointing out why people find their site.

Third, Here is the link to the Colorado Springs Home Builders Association (select builders in the member type drop down menu). There are many, many builders in town. Don't just shop incentives; shop style, quality, location, and most importantly -RESALE VALUE - I cannot stress that enough to folks. If you buy in a neighborhood that has historic decreases guess what....

Fourth, the aforementioned builders have great reputations here (with exceptions here or there - Private Message me for specifics, again don't want to bash anyone here for single instances or hear-say). You will find many of them build in the same communities together. You can shop certain builders through those neighborhood web portals (eg Cordera). You can also search the builder sites of course.

Lastly, area and school district are synonymous in some instances. Folks who want the Broadmoor area (Southwest COS) get and/or want school district 12. D12 is one of the highest ranking districts in the state. It is also the most well funded (by residents, not the state). Up in Northern COS you find D20. Again, purchasing for the area you get the school district. Sliding into the Monument are is D38. Actually, here is a link to the school district map (http://jamieheath.com/images/school_district_map.jpg - broken link). Bounce that off the builders location. Note: I would also google issues within particular high schools after you choose a district. Some high schools have had non-academic related issues that are concerning.

Hope that helps!

PS. This can be a debatable topic for some (lets not debate it here in this persons thread though) and at the risk of sounding self-serving, I highly recommend getting a Realtor. The builder will gladly sell you a home without one, but it does not cost you more to have one. The builder reps work for the builder. Thats it. The Realtor can play a key advisement role in the process and handle any details and/or issues that arise. This is also great when you are relocating and are not familiar with the city.

[Jewjin]

Thank you so much for all the information provided specially about the school district. This is very important to consider.

Thank you ver much!