Advice on Springs neighborhoods (Colorado Springs, Colorado City: for sale, real estate market, insurance)

[maverick32078]

Hello,
I've read all of the great threads here on the board and many in the archives and it sounds like folks are giving out some great advice and expertise. Hoping you'll be able to share some with me about specific neighborhoods, too.

Here's our situation: I am considering a job in downtown Colorado Springs. My wife and I are in our 30s with no kids but hope to be starting a family soon. Our expected price range for a house is $250-300K.

We want to avoid "cookie cutter" homes with vinyl siding. We do like older homes but also more modern brick and stone homes, would love to find a friendly neighborhood with young families, charm, character, and of course, good schools. We are "live and let live", but frankly, do not like to be recruited to church (we are certainly not anti-church, though). We aren't terribly politically active, but fall in the moderate to liberal area.

I took a quick tour around town with a realtor during my interview and received some recommendations about the following neighborhoods. As it pertains to our situation, what can you tell me about:

- Old North End
- Patty Jewett
- Wasson
- Divine Redeemer
- Lower Skyway
- Cheyenne Mountain
- Old Colorado City
- Mountain Shadows

Any other areas you might recommend?

Thanks very much!

[Carrera32]

Maverick - My wife and I just moved to COS about 7 months ago. Our situation is similar to yours in some respects, different in others. We wanted proximity to downtown and didn't want a cookie cutter suburban environment. We settled in Old North End, which was described in last week's Gazette's Real Estate supplement (I believe the supplement is available on line) as one of the more desirable areas in COS. It's older, has wide tree lined streets, a wide variety of houses (and prices) ranging from modest craftsman bungalows, to mid-century in-fill ranchers, to million dollar turn of the century mansions, very safe, and a moderate to liberal political and social 'vibe.' It's also very near Colorado College, Monument Valley Park and downtown (you could walk or bike to work downtown from Old North End). While you can find prices in your range, they'll probably be smaller and need work. Also the neighborhood seems to have a pretty good mix of retirees, young families and working couples. Patty Jewett is adjacent to North End just to the east. It's not as upscale, but the homes are also older with a lot of character and the prices are much more reasonable and also very convenient to the downtown core. I don't think you'd have much trouble finding something in your price range, but it doesn't have the cachet that's just a few blocks away in North End (location, location, location: the three most important factors for resale value down the road, if the real estate market ever recovers). OCC has a unique 'funk' factor). We love the restaurant/shopping row, but weren't as impressed with the immediate surrounding neighborhood for housing (seemed run down and seedy to us). Skyway is an older development, with a lot of mid-century ranch homes. We looked a fair amount in Skyway, saw some homes in our price range, but in need of a lot of work. Seems like a neighborhood that's not on the upswing, and to our mind, and the houses we like seemed overpriced compared to other areas. We also looked at Mountain Shadows and Cheyenne Mountain to some degree, but these, while more established, fit the mold of traditional suburbs, and therefore we were less interested. The homes are well maintained and neighborhoods look like nice areas to raise a family (not a consideration for us, as we're older and semi-retired). Haven't looked at prices there lately, but I think you should be able to find something nice in your price range in those areas. Don't know anything about Wasson or Divine Redeemer (but I know others have can comment on DR). There are loads of threads on school districts, but the consensus seems to be that schools are good throughout the COS area.

Bottom line is we feel we made the right decision for our needs and desire in Old North End. Do your homework and be patient; there's not a lot of real estate activity here, particularly in your price range. If you're lucky, something will turn up.

Good luck.

[smdensbcs]

Maverick, as Carrera attests, Old North End is very, very nice. We have three separate friends who live there, all with young children. One couple, who live a bit too close too CC for comfort (keg parties next door, etc) send their kids to our local Upper Skyway elementary-school and may prefer to join their extended group of friends up here but don't think they could sell their house for the right price so feel a bit stuck. The other two couples love the Old North End but have expressed some doubt about public vs. private school once kids hit junior high.

Seems like all the neighborhoods you listed generally fit the bill you described. My spouse and I found a home (which admittedly has required quite a bit of cosmetic, non-expensive TLC) in Upper Skyway a few years ago exactly within your price range. We were concerned there might not be enough young families but its actually been incredible. Neither of us ever imagined living in a neighborhood that has such a strong sense of community, comparative diversity, easy access to both city and backcountry, the list goes on. The D12 schools seem to be high quality and competitive, as most parents tend to be highly educated which often has a way of producing high-achieving kids. And the political yard-signs seem to be pretty evenly divided, which is refreshing.

Any neighborhood is what you make of it, and it seems all you listed could give you a great starting point!

[maverick32078]

Tremendous! Thanks, Carrera and smdensbcs, for taking the time to reply and offering up some good advice.

If anyone else has anything else to add, I'd love to hear it.

[hollyt00]

I live in Old North End, and for the most part enjoy it even though we are trying to sell our house (too small) Lots of houses for sale around here. I'm sorta between ONE and Patty Jewett I suppose, the older homes, I like them. I didn't like needing to spend $5K after buying our house to install cleanouts for plumbing. I don't anticipate enjoying needing to fix the neighbor's plumbing when we have to dig up the easement...

but it's an older home, and you have to understand what you're buying, naturally. No use really complaining about those things when you're buying in a neighborhood with 100 year old pipes. We redid the electrical, and most of our windows are painted shut.

OCC reminded me of New Orleans in a way. Nice house next to a crappy house, it's odd, but it does have a charm.

Divine Redeemer is 50s style homes, some nice, some not so nice, but overall it is a quiet type neighborhood. My father in law lives in that area. Wasson, the homes are 70s? I honestly would avoid buying by a school, especially Wasson as that HS is always on the chopping block to be turned into something else.

Mt Shadows is the place that my husband and I wanted to move to for years, and when we started to actually, really look around, we discovered that Mt Shadows... is simply the cookie cutter neighborhoods from the East part of town, fifteen years ago, and closer to the mountains. There are a couple nice areas in there, but lots of eh neighborhoods around there as well. It's been a disappointment for me, honestly.

Cheyenne Mt has lots of gems, but in your price range, you're likely to get one of the smaller homes/yards in Broadmoor Downs (I think that's the name, west off of 115?) or find a fixer.


Anywhere west of I-25 will result in lots of deer.

I would suggest if you look on the west side to see if you can find a map with old mining tunnels on them. We have eliminated several areas of town because they are built over mining tunnels that can and have collapsed. Mining insurance won't cut it for me if I want my kids to play in the yard !

[Carrera32]

To add to Holly's post, I've heard that the Gold Hill Mesa area has old mine problems as well, but of a different sort. Others may confirm or debunk, but my understanding is that that community is built on mine tailings and the ground is contaminated. The developer's solution was to put down plastic sheeting as a barrier then cover it with several feet of uncontaminated fill dirt, then start building houses. Not sure that there have been any problems, but if true, that's not my idea of where I'd want to live or bring up my kids. Anyone else out there to comment?

[maverick32078]

Wow - that is fascinating and something I hadn't heard before. And where exactly would I be able to find a map with old mining tunnels. Is this common on the west side of town, and in any particular areas?

[hollyt00]

It's really scattered around the west side, but really concentrated by Mt Shadows. My husband's sleepy answer to the question on where to find the maps is "online" ...so I have no clue how that may help! Though! A quick google search found this for me!!

Abandoned Mines Maps

In all honesty, for us, the houses we weren't interested in were over the mine tunnels. We didn't like the neighborhoods as much, and the houses weren't in as good shape, so it wasn't something that is a huge red flag for us. I've just heard so many stories of sinkholes in peoples' yards!!

Another concern about the west side is if you are looking at houses built on hills, really get someone to look at the foundation. There was this huge house that had been on the market for a number of years, 5000sf, and when we saw it, it was at 310K or so. Far too good to be true! The house was falling down the hill. I believe it finally sold for 230K. Whoever bought the house likely put 100K into it to fix the foundation. I was so thrilled to see that house off the market. My husband the architect was very excited about it and really wanted to invest in it. !!

Carrera, my husband and I were very seriously looking into Gold Hill Mesa for a while. In fact, I would still be considering it if it weren't for two big problems that prevent me from wanting to move there: yard size and the amount of empty buildings. If the average yard size was more than 4900 sf (they have to squeeze so many houses in that area because it cost so much to fix it), and there wasn't such a small space between the houses... i.e. if there was a yard (I like yards), we'd consider it. Also, if you drive through that area, there is at least one house on each street that is for sale. Not surprising in most areas, but there are only a half-dozen houses on each street. It's just not a good risk to take on, imo. I don't want to live in a struggling neighborhood.

If the yard size had been better, and the prices just a tad lower, we would have sent the EPA reports to my father and sister, my father has worked in the soil reclamation area so he'd know what to look for.

'Course the cynical person in me would say that the reports of course would say everything is on the up-and-up and a-okay to buy there. When we were thinking about it, I would be okay with wanting to live there, and then someone would say that during dusty summer months you need the windows closed so the dust won't get in cause they do have some heavy metals in them. It's pretty crazy.