have you relocated to Co Springs from So California? (Denver: appointed, to rent)

[Caligirlanj]

I am interested in hearing from Southern California natives who have relocated to Colorado Springs. Do you like it and if so what makes it great for you?

Things that I wonder about...

We have a 3 1/2 year old so schools, good community and neighbors, low crime and good jobs are important to us

We are not at all religious and I have heard this is a very religious area?

We are pretty liberal

Is there much diversity

I will be staying at home for a year or so, husband works in the tech field. There are tons of jobs he would be qualified for. We are looking into CO Springs, Boulder and just south of Denver as options.

Yes, we are prepared for COLD/SNOW and looking forward to less of a commute and friendly people.
Thanks everyone!

[PokerMunkee]

I'd suggest Boulder, sounds like your type of place. It's expensive, but that's how most liberal places are. It's the San Francisco/Austin of Colorado.

You really need to take a 5 day trip to Colorado and see the cities in person.

[Caligirlanj]

Thanks. We are planning to take a week and drive to see it all, just trying to narrow down the field before we go.

I spent almost every summer in Grand Junction through my childhood and several weeks during several winters, snowy and dry and as an adult have been to GJ many times. I have also been to Aspen, Breckenridge, Fort Collins, Castle Rock, and we have family in Greeley, GJ, Pueblo, Castle Rock and Centenniel.

[Carrera32]

I grew up in SoCal (San Diego suburb) eons ago, went to college and grad school at SDSU. My sister and her family still live there. My wife grew up in Santa Barbara and her family still lives there. We've been living in Virginia for many years and just relocated to COS. Here are my impressions after much research into the area (and several scouting trips) before moving here (check my thread "Can a moderate to liberal couple find happiness in Colorado Springs." Lots of good feedback from COS residents). If you're from SD, Santa Barbara, Simi Valley, La Jolla, Orange County, etc., you're already familiar with living in a conservative community. That's what you'll find in COS, and it was a concern of ours in our decision to move here. Specifically, I was concerned with the religious right and its impact on local social issues as they played out in the local political environment. So far, so good. We found a part of town that appears to be relatively neutral on those issues. The feedback I got was that COS is a live and let live community, and that's our impression so far. Politically, the community is conservative; you'll have to accept that and adjust. There is a strong religious presence here, with Focus on the Family and a few mega churches. Again, it was a concern of ours, but the feedback I got (and my initial impression) is that if that's not your thing, it won't be a major issue in your day to day life. I haven't had any proselytizing or "in your face" encounters, and don't expect to. I can't speak to the schools, but many other threads can address those. Violent crime doesn't appear to be a major problem and from the various posts, there appear to be few areas of town to avoid from a crime standpoint. Advice from most posts is to rent for six months to a year before committing to the area, and have a job here before coming. I'm semi-retired and work from my house as a Govt contractor, so the job situation wasn't really a factor for us (my wife is a freelance editor, who also works from home). We felt that we knew the area well enough based on our scouting trips and recommendations from friends living here (as well as the posts on this site and working with a realtor for the better part of three years) that when we were ready, we felt comfortable moving and buying here immediately. Again, so far, so good. You'll find housing prices very low compared to SoCal (even after the bubble burst). According to numerous posts, you'll find very nice places for $250-300K in the suburbs in good school districts. Downtown in North End, the entry level is about $400K or a little less, but rises rapidly, much less for other downtown locations. As for the weather, it's a high desert climate, which is, believe it or not, somewhat comparable to California. It won't be as warm and you will have to deal with a real winter, but I think you'll not be disappointed. Good luck to you.

[kristie73]

I'm orignally from Virginia, but moved to Colorado Springs from San Diego. I lived in San Diego for about 8 years. I do miss certain things about southern california. But we moved because the traffic and commute was getting to us, we couldn't afford a better home or newer car, etc. My sister lives here in Colorado Springs and when we would visit, we loved it. So we looked for jobs, which I found easy since I've worked with DoD and Government Contractors. It was an easy transition from San Diego to Colorado Springs.

I don't discuss religion and politics so I don't encounter any issues. I don't see as much diversity here as San Diego, but it's here.

The snow and cold will get on your nerves some days. But when they cancel work due to weather it's nice.

I have two kids and I'm very happy with the home and nieghborhood we have them growing up in.

Need some direct flights from Colorado Springs airport to San Diego though. It's stupid to connect in Denver. Colorado Springs airport sucks!

Anyway, good luck.

[SYS]

I'm a liberal from San Diego, Santa Barbara, Berkeley (as well as Boston, Chicago, and Tucson), and I've lived in CS for about 8 years now. I have two boys who grew up here since they were 3 and 5.

Don't let the religious and political conservatism in CS bother you. If you don't want to be bombarded with the Fox News channel while you're exercising on a treadmill at the local Y, then you're free to not join. As long as you don't mind seeing so many churches (I still haven't figured out whether we have more liquor stores per capita or churches....), you have the freedom not to attend one or let anyone bother you. Once in awhile I do get a pair of clean shaven, necktied guys ringing my bell with the Bible in their hands, but so did J-Witness guys while I was living in SD years back. As long as you don't mind quite probably seeing the placards with Sarah Palin's smiling face all over your community lawns come 2012, you're free not to vote for her.

The weather here sure can't beat SD's, but the cleaner air, sunnier lights, and the spectacular blue sky and cloud formations will. Whenever I visit my parents' place in SD, I relearn to appreciate the lack of traffic jams in CS. It's stress-free driving here. I've never felt unsafe or otherwise concerned about raising my kids in CS. Lots of things to do for kids in a very healthy environment. The kindergarten and the elementary school my boys attended were 100% staffed by white teachers except a couple of black janitors, but hey, some things don't change as fast as we'd like. As long as they can teach well, I'm not going to be too picky as to who teaches my boys. I worry more about whether a teacher can teach? Diversity? I learned long ago that diversity is what you make of it and how you look at and find things. CS isn't SF or SD, but it's the question of what do you want to trade off? I sure miss SF's great cuisine, cultural scenes and other great diversity of things the place offers, but do I want to raise my young cubs there and be a faithful slave to paying the mortgage for the rest of my life living in a house that's one third of what I currently have?

Nah...

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Caligirlanj

I am interested in hearing from Southern California natives who have relocated to Colorado Springs. Do you like it and if so what makes it great for you?

Things that I wonder about...

We have a 3 1/2 year old so schools, good community and neighbors, low crime and good jobs are important to us

We are not at all religious and I have heard this is a very religious area?

We are pretty liberal

Is there much diversity

I will be staying at home for a year or so, husband works in the tech field. There are tons of jobs he would be qualified for. We are looking into CO Springs, Boulder and just south of Denver as options.

Yes, we are prepared for COLD/SNOW and looking forward to less of a commute and friendly people.
Thanks everyone!

I haven't lived in Colorado Springs, but I've gone there several times and I'm a CA native. I don't care for CS, but then again, I'm a non-religious liberal too.

You won't be the first Californians to move there. You won't be the last, and you'll have plenty of company.

You'll find all of the stuff in bold above somewhere in CS.

CS is pretty religious. It is a little diverse racially, but there doesn't seem to be much diversity in class or thought (IMO).

Re: Denver, why does it have to be "just south of Denver"? There are plenty of nice areas all over the metro.

In Denver, it is still possible to have a long, CA-esque commute. I know CS isn't very big, but it is very spread out (I hate Academy Blvd).

I don't find CO'ans to be particularly friendly, but maybe it's just me.

[Caligirlanj]

Thanks for everyones opinions so far. I have been checking out all the areas by talking to friends and family who live and work in various parts of CO. Also checking out all the forums to see what folks have to say.

David Aguilar: as far as just south of Denver, that just happens to be one of the areas we like the looks of, castle rock, Parker, highlands ranch, Littleton... I have also heard the light rail from that area is a good option as opposed to sitting in traffic. Traffic and smog and rude drivers here are everywhere and public transportation here in LA/OC is pretty scary.

[MovingAloha]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

I grew up in SoCal (San Diego suburb) eons ago, ...

Carrera32,
I appreciated your comments. I am in the throes of deciding between returning to my home state of California (San Diego) or doing something radical like Colorado (COS). We are retired Military Officers and have a 10-year old grandson living with us. We will not be looking for work per se, although my hubby may look for something. I like the idea of having Military around, and that is why COS is appealing. I love San Diego, but just can't get past the financial hit we will take upon moving there. I'm not too enthused with the Winter aspect, but I've been to COS and it is beautiful, which sort of makes up for moving someplace "where ice is formed naturally!"
Do you mind saying in which quadrant you decided upon?

Mahalo!!

[Carrera32]

We bought a house in the Old North End section of downtown Colorado Springs. It's the historic section of town (there are others, as well, such as Old Colorado City), but this is the area that appealed to us. Lots of well tended and restored older homes of varying styles, including Victorian, Arts and Crafts, Spanish Colonial, and even mid-century ranchers, ranging from modest bungalows to large mansions on wonderful tree lined streets. Price points start at under $400K for a small restored bungalow to well over a million for the larger homes.

There's an active voluntary homeowners association that's heavily involved in historic preservation and education concerning the community (a book about Old North End is in the works to be published early next year). Ours is a mid-century rancher with an addition and full basement (needs some freshening, but perfectly livable).

The area is roughly bounded by Penrose hospital to the north, Colorado College to the South, Wahsatch to the East and Monument Valley Park to the West (these are not exact boundaries, but they form the area we were interested in. Lots of tree-lined streets, some of which are very quiet (i.e., Wood Avenue, Tejon St, and the cross streets; others with more traffic (Cascade and Nevada).

We could have purchased a much nicer home in other parts of town, but we fell in love with the neighborhood. Just drive up Wood Ave or Tejon and I think you'd agree. If you're looking for the Burbs, there are lots of threads that will extol the virtues of Briargate, Rockrimmon, Kissing Camels (gated, expensive), Woodmoor, Peregrine, and the areas near Powers Blvd to the north, but those weren't what we were looking for.

In SD, the equivalent neighborhoods to North End would be North Park, Golden Hills, and Normal Heights. Kissing Camels would equate to the ranchers overlooking La Jolla Shores (but I'm pretty sure at a much lower price) or Scripps Ranch. As retired military officers, I think you'd feel right at home in COS (particularly if you were Air Force or Army).

SD was on our list as well as a possible retirement site, but we didn't have the huge run up in housing prices where we lived, so we'd have had to take a huge financial hit or severely compromise our standard of living to return. The idea of a $400-500K starter home (i.e., 1100 sq ft, 60 year old tired stucco rancher with no basement in La Mesa, where I grew up, just didn't appeal to us). Add the increasingly bad traffic, uncontrolled growth and sprawl (when I was a kid growing up in SD, it was about the same size as COS is now, believe it or not), high cost of living, and the fiscal problems in California, and our decision to retire in COS was pretty easy.

As others have suggested, come into town on a scouting trip or three, give it good look, visit the bases and the Academy, find a good realtor (send me a private e-mail and I'll recommend one) to track properties for you, drive around and get a feel for the vibe of the various neighborhoods. I think you'll find a lot of kindred souls and a neighborhood you'd like. Good luck.