Advice on neighborhoods-30 min. commute from COS (Denver, Colorado Springs: for sale, HOA)

[addfellow]

Hi all. We're a couple in our mid-40's relocating from the wintery hellscape of SW Michigan to COS. I haven't been out there yet, but my wife has raved about the area. We'll be hunting for a house in the $300-400K range. Our child is grown & gone, so school quality isn't a factor. We need guidance as to what areas would be about a half-hour commute to downtown COS. A lot size of 1 acre+ is a major consideration (I'm a furniture maker and have to have space to create a new workshop that'll be far enough from our new neighbors' houses to prevent noise complaints.) We'd be comfortable in a rural environment or someplace upscale, altho hopefully without a high snoot quotient :-) Thanks in advance.

[otowi]

With that price range, the world is your oyster out here. The entire city is within a half-hour commute of downtown pretty much. You might think of places like Peregrine or Flying Horse - I am sure some people will have more recommendations - I don't know neighborhoods in that price range super well.

[Miss Hepburn]

Black Forest? Or out Woodman Rd ...that's east of Academy...
Gets windy there and certainly colder.

You don't want covenants and Home Owners Associations, HOAs.
Mitigate the trees on your property from
your house and you can get plenty of land there or close to there, with
not much fear of fire. Lots of acres and houses for sale,(1-5 acres), I hear bec
their ins went so high.
Clear your land, you'll be ok...maybe your ins would better...hope so, seems fair.

[beezle1]

If you end up looking in neighborhoods that have covenants and architectural guidelines, be sure to check that you would be allowed to build a workshop. For 1+ acres that may allow this, I would think Black Forest, Falcon, Peyton.

[lalahartma]

I also say Black Forest. Or the Unincorporated areas with the city.

[addfellow]

Great advice, thanks. Yes indeed, I would be wary of covenants. I've heard horror stories from friends.

Surprisingly, my wife told me that in her conversations with people at her new company, most of them live well outside the COS area despite working in downtown COS; hell, the CEO said she lives in Boulder!! That's got to be a wacky commute. Any reason you can think of that so many of these folks are willing to endure that kind of commute? Regardless, we'd still like to keep my wife's commute under 45 min. each way.

[otowi]

No, they're just nuts - the commute from Boulder is VERY long. Boulder is like a whole other country, in more ways than one.

[CharlotteRJ]

We had a similar consideration. My husband does woodworking, that was about our budget, and a workshop was a big part of our criteria. Schools were a big consideration for us, though.

Flying Horse and Peregrine are probably off the list, due to HOA restrictions on outbuildings, and general price. A house in that price range in those neighborhoods will be very small. If you want an acre or more, I'd suggest Black Forest. You could get a half acre in Glen Eagle, with enough space to build an outbuilding shop. You might also luck out and find a place with an RV garage, which might work for a shop.

We ended up on a small lot in Northgate, but with a deep basement, and my husband has appropriated about 1000 ft2 of it to be his shop. I *really* didn't want to be too far out of town, and someplace more rural probably would have worked for us.

Alternatively, most of the older neighborhoods in town do not have specific HOA restrictions, just requirements on approval from the city. I know of people who have a large garage on the back alley that they use for a shop. Driving around, I've seen some beautiful two story ones. We just couldn't find something with the combination lot configuration / house size for two kids / and good school that we needed.

[Mike from back east]

Search out some places on ppar.com and use the lot-size filter.

What you seek is here. Being on the north end of town you'll be w/in 30 mins to downtown, and just over an hour do downtown Denver if you want pro sports.

Here's a sample of what I've found (SFH, $250k-$350K, 1 Acre Min), there are many fitting your criteria. A realtor will be able to search even better, there are almost certainly some properties that already have workshops.

In Monument, on 5 acres.

[captain_hug99]

I would recommend the unincorporated sections of Colorado Springs. there are areas in the middle of the city where it turns from big neighborhoods to acres with cows!