Monument vs Fountain? (Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Pueblo: houses, neighborhoods, purchase)

[Postal77]

Was wondering about the pros and Cons of each.

My wife and i are self employed, so all we need is fast internet for work.

We have four kids, so schools are important.

A safe community it's important too. From what I've read, CS isn't where we want to be. Is monument and fountain far enough from CS to make it much safer?

[mtngigi]

Folk will ask these questions in order to give you helpful answers:

Rent or buy?
Price range/size of house?

Fountain is a nice, family-friendly town, and I believe it offers more affordable housing options than Monument. Others with more info will come along.

[otowi]

What is that you don't like about CS or that you think is unsafe that makes you think you want to be in Monument or Fountain instead? I ask because that may make one a more preferable choice than another.

Both have decent schools. Monument's district has some better test scores but a lot less diversity and is constantly closing or delaying for weather due to its location on the Palmer Divide and being kind of wimpy in that regard, imho. Fountain's weather is warmer, Monument feels a little more mountain-y and Fountain is more plains. Both are close to CS. Housing is going to be a bit cheaper in Fountain/Security/Widefield than in Monument, generally speaking - and probably more to choose from.

[DrDog]

So you want to move to Colorado Springs but not live in Colorado Springs? It’s a generally safe city.

[Postal77]

I just want to move to Colorado. No specific city. I've been there on about five trips and one of my best friends lives in Fort Collins. We're considering moving there too.

We'll purchase a home more than likely. But if we don't find something, we'll rent. Price range? Around $350k 2500 sf or so.

The stats here, on areavibe, and other sites say Colorado Springs isn't that safe. I've been there a couple of times and I've felt safe. But looks at the actual records says something different.

[DoodlemomCoS]

Postal,
I think the unsafe aspects you are reading about are located mostly in the SE area of the city. We moved to CoS 2 years ago and I think it’s very safe! Certainly as safe as Fountain and Monument. Monument IMO is a lot more expensive than Fountain. You will not get a 2500 sq ft house for $350k in Monument. They have a good school district. People from N CoS choice into it. It might not be popular to say but great schools and expensive housing go hand in hand. These districts are D12, D38 and D20. Other posters will disagree with me and I respect their opinions while still holding to mine. We did a lot of research before moving and predominantly the neighborhoods that have higher housing costs, tend to have better schools. Does that mean you can’t find a good school in a cheaper area? No, you can, but you will have to really search and determine what your most important values are. We lived in a lower cost area and suffered with the schools saying housing costs didn’t matter when it came to school quality. Never again. We are glad we made the decision to live in a great district even though it meant sacrifices to us.

ETA: I also do not think schools up in Monument closing or delaying due to weather as being wimpy at all. The streets up here get incredibly icy when most of CoS is dry or clear after a storm. It’s topography! We have to call into our school at times because we cannot get out of our driveway as we sit at 7300 feet. The kids that go to our school that live at 6500 feet and have houses on relatively flat streets have no issue getting to school on mornings when we are having trouble.

[otowi]

Originally Posted by DoodlemomCoS

Postal,

ETA: I also do not think schools up in Monument closing or delaying due to weather as being wimpy at all. The streets up here get incredibly icy when most of CoS is dry or clear after a storm. It’s topography! We have to call into our school at times because we cannot get out of our driveway as we sit at 7300 feet. The kids that go to our school that live at 6500 feet and have houses on relatively flat streets have no issue getting to school on mornings when we are having trouble.

To clarify - there are times when it is certainly appropriate. The weather on the Palmer Divide can be a completely different beast than in town. But I have coworkers who live in Monument who are constantly having to bring their kids to work with them for a few hours and then leave to take them to work because the school district called a delay when the roads are completely fine and they cannot figure out why the school is delayed and it is a huge inconvenience to them. They are able to get to work just fine and end up having to take an extra trip on the roads to get their kids to school when it would have been safer to do it just once if there is actually that dusting of snow on the road or something.

[DoodlemomCoS]

Otowi,
Certainly there will be times when a call can go either way. Frankly, I’ve found the D38 calls to delay or cancel much more appropriate than not, especially given where we live. D20 rarely calls delays and we have to institute our own for safety reasons. Those usually correspond with D38 delays. Since my house sits at the most northern border of D20, it doesn’t represent most of my district’s road conditions. I don’t expect them to call a snow delay for a small section of the district. But I, and my neighborhood, completely understand D38 for the most part. Just as you can site coworkers that think the delays are inappropriate, I can cite neighbors across the road who go to D38 that have the opposite view. I’m giving my opinion based on my personal experience of living in the actual area we are discussing. I enjoy your posts on CD but we differ greatly on how we view school districts.

[Mike from back east]

Weather-wise there's a world of difference between the far north and far south ends of the COLO SPGS area. On the north end there are some narrow dirt roads which become hazardous enough that D38 errs on the side of caution lest a child gets hurt or killed and parents try to sue the district or the bus drivers, etc.

I recall driving on some muddy dirt roads in Rustic Hills area, in-town, and had to be very careful to keep it out of the ditch.

I recall D20 being a bit cautious too.

The further south one goes from Briargate the situation changes quickly as the elevation declines. There was one time I left Briargate, heading south on I-25 (to visit Phoenix ) and it was snowing like a banshee. A semi-truck on I-25 northbound was jack-knifed just north of Woodmen but by the time I got to downtown it was just rain, by the time I got to the south end of town, near S. Academy, it was very light rain and by the time I got to Pueblo it was clear and dry. Briargate got a foot of snow that day, south part of town got some nice rain. My neighbor, also our realtor, shoveled our sidewalks for us....THAT is real service.

I lived in Briargate D20 area for 11 years and am a big fan of that area which I feel is very safe, as is Monument D38 area.

[mtngigi]

I often wonder if anyone can name a city of significant size anywhere in the U.S. as safe and/or crime-free. It's as safe here as it is anywhere there are thousands of people living in close proximity to each other.