Considering Colorado Springs as a place to move to when DH retires (Denver: real estate, apartment complexes)

[TCHP]

We do have a collection of Fundamentalists, and they are sometimes quite outspoken, but we probably have more Evangelicals. However, with that said, and despite the national perception, Cos is actually not a highly religious town and participation is not above most national averages.

Diversity in architecture, mature trees and walkability will keep you more centrally and westerly located. Starryskiesabove has some very good suggestions of neighborhoods to look in. Prices in those areas overall will range from $180k to $1million, and in size from 900 to 8000 sq ft, so a lot of choice, if you can find homes for sale. Inventory is a bit low currently.


Of course, in three years this could change. That is still a way out. Colorado's current trajectory means your buying power will diminish in that time. In the meantime maybe visit these sites to add to your research knowledge base.

Colorado Springs Vacation Planning & Tourism Information | Colorado Springs, Colorado
https://coloradosprings.gov/

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Originally Posted by DrDog

Dh?

Forum abbreviations:

DH Dear Husband
DW Dear Wife
DS Dear Son
DD Dear Daughter

[Kathy884]

Originally Posted by DrDog

Dh?

DH=Dear Husband, DW=Dear Wife, DD=Dear Daughter, DS=Dear Son

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Kathy884

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. You have given me a lot to look at / consider. On paper Colorado Springs sounds perfect, so I'm really looking forward to visiting. // As to the question about newer vs. established neighborhood, we are open to looking at both. To date, though, in the three cities that we have lived in since 1985, we ended up going for older neighborhoods (I'm a sucker for big trees and character and so is DH.) But sometimes with limited inventory, older neighborhoods are just too expensive. Also, not being up for major renovations can make newer appealing sometimes.


In Denver we lived in a cute little house in a neighborhood called Washington Park that was three blocks from that nice park, but now that is a really hot area and prices are just out of site. I sold that place for $89,000 in 1989. It would be way too small for us now too, but per Zillow is actually worth over $500,000 now -- crazy. Actually, though, as I said in the initial post, Denver and suburbs get you so little for your money that we'd stay put in St. Louis vs. move there.

Washington Park ... Loved that neighborhood when I first saw and drove around through it. Not surprised the prices have gone up.

If Washington Park was more your cup of tea, I would think you might be happier looking at areas on the westside of Colorado Springs.

[jaz0003]

I also would recommend Patty Jewett, Old Colorado City, area around Memorial hospital, Ivywild, and Cheyenne Canon as places to live. Briargate is pretty generic and not really close to nice trails but it is close to shopping. It is the typical new construction type of area that every city seems to have on the edges of town with little character. OK for many, but it sounds like that is not what you are looking for.

Ivywild is one of the up and coming areas with quite a bit of new commercial projects on the way but lots of early 1900s-1940s homes. Cheyenne Canon is less commercial, and houses are funky there but probably the best area in the city for walking to awesome trails.

[Kathy884]

Just a follow-up


I looked online at quite a bit of what is for sale currently in our price range with bedroom, bath, space requirements, finished basement, and open floor plan in the many areas that you recommended and a few others too. As many have you alluded too, there isn't a lot of inventory in the older areas. Actually, though, we expect that in newer cities.


The internet tools today are sure great compared to what was available the last time we bought a home in 1989 for narrowing things down, etc., only looking at stuff that meets requirements.


In case you are interested here are the two listing that I found that looked best to me that look like they could work for us at least on paper. They were (1) 5110 Granby Circle 80919 in that Rockminnon/Mt. Shawdows area (That one even had a mountain view.) and (2) 5585 Brushwood Court Colorado Springs, CO. I had DH and DS look at these too. (Looking now is just to get an idea of what neighborhoods and houses with our space amenity requirements in our price range might look like if we'd move out.)


And since I'm three years out obviously it's not about specific properties. It's more about what kind of housing is available in what neighborhoods in the price range that we'd be looking at. And then with a visit it's going to be do we like the vibe of the area, could we see ourselves living there, would be excited about moving out. Mountains, sunshine, a nice sized city with amenities, Denver amenities nearby for major concerts and bigger airport sound pretty good.


If DH says Oh how nice. Gosh I want to live here in the mountains, it's a definite possibility. If he's more so so, I'd be inclined to stay in St. Louis, as I have 10 more year to work I figure and really like going into the office more than telecommuting (the option is sure nice though), and we have a pretty nice setup here in St. Louis County. The Colorado Springs weather, mountains, and sunshine though trump our area for sure. I have to say I'm a bit envious of all of you living in the area or moving to the area.

[TCHP]

FWIW, Forbes recently put as #10 on the list of the best cities to be a telecommuter in.

[Mike from back east]

Rockrimmon is a very nice area. Here's one of our several threads on the topic.

Some parts of it may be subject to subsidence from old mining work, a minor concern to check out regarding homes in some of the area.

Map of affected areas is here: http://mining.state.co.us/SiteCollec...Area%20Map.pdf

As with any home in much of Colorado, you need to know about Bentonite, a mineral that causes "expansive soils" which swell when wet and can wreck a foundation.

Millions live here along the I-25 corridor, i.e., these issues aren't cause for handwringing but your realtor has to protect your interests in these regards. I'm not a realtor nor in the business in any way, shape or form.

[Kathy884]

Thanks so much for the information Mike. I didn't know anything about that. Normally we stay about from potential problems (e.g. Didn't even look at homes in our area in the flood plain even though they had 100 year or 300 year levys).

[MsMetal]

I second Cordera, Briargate, Pine Creek, brand new is NorthFork, adjacent to Cordera. Lots of development also at Dublin & Mark Sheffel Rd & a little further south on the east side (near Constitution & Powers to Mark Sheffel), but that's not as nice of an area. This is all for new homes. If you're looking for land, Black Forest & Monument.

You'll fit in fine. I know several people with gay kids. I'm a very left leaning liberal, agnostic, etc. but we also are both in IT, work from homers & we get along just fine. Though we were the only house for miles with an Obama sign LOL & got ribbed about it, but always with humor. I did have a staunch Republican next door neighbor, but we had lots of other things in common, so we got along great. Always teasing back & forth abt our political difference, but both logical, respectful of others type people. We both had some beliefs that fell on the other side of the ticket (guns for me, right to choose for him), so it was all good & in fact, we enjoyed good discussion at times. Most of our neighbors were more MOR & easy to get along with. We just moved to another community, same area.

Oh & I live on the north side, in the heart of Fundamentalist country. Less than a mile to New Life & Focus. I've been here 16 years, things have changed a lot. I used to get missionaries daily. I can't remember the last time I got one. Things have just become more MOR (middle of the road) due to transplants from everywhere. We moved here from one of the most liberal cities in the US. We were in huge culture shock at first, also b/c we were used to living in a big city & had no idea how tiny COS was back then. All in all, it's been fine & we are going to stay b/c the beauty, the access to hiking, the health care, it all makes up for the down side. Plus you can always find people who are similar to you anywhere, for friendships.

Oh & just be forewarned, if it's important to you, having a fence is really, really difficult here. Esp a 6 foot privacy fence. We waited for 16 yrs for just the right place, which is still not perfect, but we got our fence :-)