Need Advice on Communities in FT. Collins... quick move!!! (Denver: cul-de-sac, houses)

[jharris213]

WE have 2 kids (4 and 6) and my husband would have to commute to the airport once a week. Otherwise we won't have the worry of traffic. We are looking for a great town to raise our boys. Family activities, safe friendly neighborhood and great schools. We heard Fort Collins was beautiful and since we can move anywhere within 2 hours of an airport, I wanted to research the communities in Fort collins. Our house in NY is on the Market and as soon as we sell..... we can up and move out there. Which communities have great schools, lots of kids and stuff to do... Price range: 275K - 330K.... Trying to narrow it down because we may have only a few days to fly out and make an offer!!! Want to only spend time communities with the best fit for us!!! THANKS!!!

Jharris213

[tfox]

The whole city has good schools -- it's all one district called Poudre R-1. There's really not a single part of Fort Collins that you'd truly say is a "bad area." Sure, there's a few trailer parks with the usual sort of trailer-park issues, and of course there's the usual campus rowdiness when you mix college freshmen and alcohol. But other than that, you really can't go wrong anywhere in Fort Collins.

If you're looking for something more suburban in setting (newer houses, cul-de-sacs, shopping centers, etc), then the southern part is probably what you're looking for, roughly south of Prospect. It's mostly families in the southern part, particularly as you get more than a mile or so south of CSU campus. Harmony Road used to be the southern boundary of town, but now things have jumped several miles below Harmony Road, which is also where a lot of the new housing is. Once you get that far south, however, you're much closer to Loveland than Fort Collins proper, if you like the extreme south of Fort Collins, you should also look at Loveland as well.

The northern part (north of Prospect) is the original town site, and so has more "character" and history, and older houses (mostly about 1890-1965 or so, but some infill there too). Fort Collins' small downtown area is currently at the north end of town, and the campus area is also north of prospect. Downtown (aka "old town") has become very trendy and a bit on the expensive side. The campus (CSU) area has a lot to do but you probably don't want to live within about 1/2 mile of campus for obvious reasons.

Of course, if you're looking for something more rural, you can look outside of Fort Collins in any direction, though in your price range you'd probably need to look north rather than south of Fort Collins. South of Fort Collins, you have a lot of people who commute to Denver, which means it becomes more pricey. North of Fort Collins is a bit out of commute distance, so it is more affordable for that reason.

When I lived in Fort Collins, I always liked the area near Poudre Valley Hospital, around Elizabeth and Lemay. It is an older area (mostly 1950s-1960s), with a lot of stately homes originally built for doctors and medical staff at the hospital. It's close to everything, but far enough away from campus and Old Town to be a quiet neighborhood.

In the south, there were a lot of people who spoke very highly of the Dakota Ridge and Stone Ridge neighborhoods around Harmony and Timberline. These were very popular with the families working at Hewlett-Packard and other tech companies around Harmony Road. However, there are many similar single family neighborhoods in south Fort Collins that would be equally good.

[Tom Emmerling]

Tfox gave you some great information and lots of options. I would suggest the communities between Harmony and County Road 32 along Timberline area. It would be very easy access to I25 and to the airport. I would also suggest Windsor which would also give you some good access and also very good schools. Windsor is a smaller community that feels a little bit more family oriented and also lacks the college students that are in Fort Collins.

[StealthRabbit]

I'd definately consider Loveland, add it to your shopping list.

[moving to a base]

Originally Posted by jharris213

WE have 2 kids (4 and 6) and my husband would have to commute to the airport once a week. Otherwise we won't have the worry of traffic. We are looking for a great town to raise our boys. Family activities, safe friendly neighborhood and great schools. We heard Fort Collins was beautiful and since we can move anywhere within 2 hours of an airport, I wanted to research the communities in Fort collins. Our house in NY is on the Market and as soon as we sell..... we can up and move out there. Which communities have great schools, lots of kids and stuff to do... Price range: 275K - 330K.... Trying to narrow it down because we may have only a few days to fly out and make an offer!!! Want to only spend time communities with the best fit for us!!! THANKS!!!

Jharris213

Jharris -- this sounds like what I need to post. We are moving from upstate NY and our house is on the market. I am obviously in the position you were several yrs ago. Have you moved and are you enojoying FC or did you choose elsewhere. Any chance your husband is a pilot? My husband will be attempting to commute out of DIA and will have same drive weekly. How is this working? Would love your thoughts if you still check this thread. Thanks