Where NOT to live in COS?

[treedonkey]

Originally Posted by socosteph

Hello,

I will be visiting Colorado Springs in a few weeks and am thinking of relocating there. During my stay there I shall be looking for apartments I might want to live in. Does anyone have any suggestions of places to rent a studio, one bedroom or a small house? And most importantly, are there any areas that I should avoid living in for any reason?
Thank you to everyone for being kind enough to take the time and answer!

Kudos to you for planning on coming out and renting an apartment until you get settled, instead of just dreaming about the giant house-plus-acreage perched high atop a mountain peak that you plan to immediately swoop in on while trying to get your new career going.

I'm sure you'll find a good place, and in time, a decent job. Just stay away from the really bad-looking areas and you should be fine. There are still plenty of nice, affordable little neighborhoods very close to downtown. You should probably check the COS Gazette classifieds for starters.

[KickAssArmyChick]

The South side... it's just awful.

[ryanek9freak]

Originally Posted by KickAssArmyChick

The South side... it's just awful.

+1. I unfortunatley have no choice but to live in Pikes Peak Park. the houses are nice, but the neighborhood is full of illegal immigrants and shady people. I keep my house armed to the teeth, with dogs and plenty of guns.

[2k1Toaster]

You cant say the whole south side is awful. Pretty much anything from Fort Carson east is sketchy. However cross over Nevada/CO115 towards Cheyenne Mountain and you are in prime real estate. Still the best houses and apartments in the city are in the extreme Southwest. 80906 zipcode is a good place to look, but 80906 does include some bad areas east of fort carson.

Look up "on the hill" (which is Cheyenne Mountain closer to Norad). I deliver in the southwest part of town and know most of the apartment complexes pretty well. You will find some nice places here. Some places to rent I would reccommend: "Pines at Broadmoor Bluffs" which are all the apartments on Watch Hill Dr. (medium price range, on the hill, most with good views, AWESOME neighbourhood, city park by firestation within throwing distance, etc...), Autumn Heights (much less expensive, not on the hill itself but still good neighbourhood), some of the places on West Meadow Dr. (keep in mind mostly soldiers from Fort Carson rent these and I dont want to be branded anti-patriotic or anything but they are rude and generally not very "clean". Dont expect public areas to be kept well or for good neighbours, but the places themselves are nice. Really cheap though). There are also some houses for rent (like one on Farthing Dr. which is very nice up the hill (about 0.5 miles from Watch Hill Dr.) in this area.

It is a great area with generally affluent people and where I currently live. No blasting music, generally good people, and very low crime rate. Also because of the proximity to NORAD extremely well guarded. When you call the police, they are here in 2 minutes. Call the firestation and there are here in under 5 since the firestation is right there. District 12 has some of the best schools in the COUNTRY if that matters to you.

So most of the south is pretty sketchy, but extreme south-west is one of the best places to live.