[Cjmeck]

This is completely OT but I just wondered if anyone lived in the Colorado Springs area; or even just visited? Dh and I are currently living in Ohio and we just found out we're moving to CS this summer (he's in the USAF). We've never been there, and frankly, after seeing the blizzard coverage on the news, I'm freaking out a bit! Anything anyone can tell me about the area; schools, housing, ect... I'd love to hear. DH will be working at Cheyenne Mountain Air Station. THANKS!

[Steph-Jason]

I've never lived there but have visited & I love love love Colorado!! Colorado Springs was OK- it reminded me alot of our city so I was't blown away by it but you've got some pretty great things really close by. I don't know anything about housing or schooling or anything like that though. Sorry- I guess I'm not a huge help But I've always thought Colorado would be a pretty fun place to live. Good luck!! Wow- moving that far away must be pretty stressfull. Is all of your family in OH?

[oceanica]

I also visited and really enjoyed Co Springs. I wish I had hiked to the top of Pikes Peak instead of driving! It's so much fun to walk around there. And it's so beautiful.

[Gwen72]

I have only visited there once but it was GORGEOUS!!! When you go to the top of Pike's Peak you can see how it inspired the song "America the Beautiful." We were only there for a few days and did all the touristy stuff so I can't tell you anything about housing or schools though. I know you've been looking forward to leaving WPAFB for a while. I'm glad you finally got your orders.

[JenC]

We live in Indiana, but visited Co. Springs in 06. We loved it and would have moved out there in a second except for the fact all our family is here. I have pics of the AFB and the zoo. We were there in March so the very tip top of the Peak was still closed due to snow. We drove up as far as we could. When it comes to housing and schools, I'm not much help! But we really like the area!

[shy_bear]

Hubby is Army and have lived there twice; hate it!!! I love CO, but do not like the area down there. Thank goodness we were only down there for 7 mths this last time and hubby made rank so we are back in the Denver Metro area. We like it so much up here we are buying a house and plan on staying once he retires. Ft. Carson has some newer pretty nice housing if you are wanting to live on base. B/C it is new you now have to pay utilities and the wait list is pretty long. DO NOT live on the Air Academy. We left there a couple of mths ago. The housing is AWFUL!!! They are in the midst of rebuilding, but if you can get stuck in one of the old homes. If you are looking to buy do not buy in the South end of town near Ft.Carson; the area is older and there is more crime. Look out towards Mark Scheffel Road where they are building a lot of new communities. You can get a really nice house in the Springs for under $250,000. The peds clinic at the Academy is better than the one on Carson; I can give you the name of the world's greatest doc if you want me to! The commissary and PX are better at Carson. The Citadel mall is better for shopping, but there are a lot of teens and singles from on base that are there on the weekends and it becomes a zoo. The Chapel Hills mall is calmer, but the shopping is not as good. There are SO many things to see; make sure you tour the Academy, Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Seven Falls, go down to Canyon and go to the Royal Gorge Bridge. If you want anymore info let me know!!!

[crick]

I live about 35 min. north of COS and have lived in CO pretty much my entire life.

COS is a more conservative city than some others, but likely not going to be as conservative as OH? It is a very beautiful place and since it's situated between a main north/south hwy, getting to Denver is easy. Mountain activities are plentiful and you are not that far to ski. Typical family city with suburbs basically.

As for the blizzard we just had...it's the only one we've had this winter really. Until this week, we've been enjoying 60-70 degree weather in March! Typically we do get a big spring storm, but unlike some other cities across the nation, CO is used to dealing with snow and they generally are well prepared for it. Snow removal trucks are usually on top of things and over the years I've lived here, there are only 4 storms I can remember where we were actually snowed in for a few days.

A lot of times when the media talks about how much snow CO gets, they aren't telling you that a lot of that snow is in the mountains and not down on the front range/metro areas.

I'll take the snow and almost daily sunshine over the humidity anytime! Snow melts.

I have an aunt and a few cousins that live in COS. My aunt is a retired school teacher, and my cousin has kids ranging from 18-2 so both are very well acquainted with the school systems. My cousin's husband also just retired from the USAF but is still working as a contractor at Cheyenne Mountain. I'm sure they'd both be happy to email with you on school & housing, so pm me if you'd like to do that. I can answer general CO questions for ya, just let me know.:

[emi]

I've lived in the Springs for 20 years (since I was a kid). We love it here. We do get a storm in March almost every year, but we have warm days throughout the winter, so it evens out. And, like usual, the Springs didn't get nearly as much snow as the rest of the state.

I think the neighborhoods and housing here are great. If you look on the north side of town there are great schools and neighborhoods. I wish it were more diverse, but it's been getting more diverse over the past few years.

I am an part of a group of adoptive moms (domestic and international) that gets together once a month, and there are lots of adoptive families here.

If you have other questions just send me a pm.

-Erin

[kretzklan]

I live near Crick - haven't ever lived in the Springs - but go there often for all the places it has to offer. Sounds like you have a lot of good info here - I love, love, love, love Colorado - don't ever plan on being anywhere else. 315 days a year of full on sun...and yes, this is our first actual snow of the season (if you lived here you'd be happy to see it...don't want a summer with no green grass)! The amount of things to do is amazing - especially if you enjoy being outdoors...you can wear out your kids each and every day with something!

[Cjmeck]

Originally Posted by crick

I have an aunt and a few cousins that live in COS. My aunt is a retired school teacher, and my cousin has kids ranging from 18-2 so both are very well acquainted with the school systems. My cousin's husband also just retired from the USAF but is still working as a contractor at Cheyenne Mountain. I'm sure they'd both be happy to email with you on school & housing, so pm me if you'd like to do that. I can answer general CO questions for ya, just let me know.:

Sounds like you are my inside hookup Basically, we need the following things: afforable house, excellent schools, military neighborhood (which usually equals more diversity). Oh, and since DH will be working at Cheyenne Mtn, a place that isn't too far of a commute. It would be great to have some inside info! Thanks! I'll pm you!

[Cjmeck]

I pm'd a few of you and accidentally cleared out my inbox before reading! If anyone pm'd back, just resend I'm a mess today...

[DianeS]

I live in Colorado Springs! I think it has all your requirements in most areas - you're just going to have to look around to find the neighborhood you're happiest with.

Colorado Springs is long from North to South (along interstate 81), and relatively skinny from East to West (although it is expanding towards the east. It can't expand west because the mountains are there.)

Cheyenne Mtn is in the SW. You don't want to live towards the south central part of town if you can help it - too much crime. Living to the west is OK, as long as you tend toward the north. The further north you go the nicer and more expensive the houses get. The city is expanding toward the east, most of the west side is all built up already. So not too many new houses on the west side. If you like new, you'll need to be very north or very east.

Diversity in the city is pretty good. Some areas are better than others, of course. But there are so many military bases in the area (Ft Carson, Peterson, Shriever, Air Force Academy) that we get people from all over. Of course military pay isn't the best in the world, so you get more of the military diversity in the southern parts of the city, which are cheaper. So it'll be a balancing act for you.

School district 20 is supposed to be the best. That's in the north part of the city, and includes the on-base housing at the Air Force Academy. It's important to note that the city allows open enrollment, so you are allowed to apply to send your kids to a district outside the one you live in. If they're accepted, you are responsible for transportation. (Note: there are very few school busses, many children ride regular public transportation busses to school anyway.) I don't know anything about the open enrollment process, I've never used it. But there are plenty of magnet schools and charter schools in each of the districts to choose from. You should be able to find what will work best if you can be flexible on transportation issues.

The roads in the city are pretty good. The traffic lights are timed well, the roads are usually wide enough for good traffic flow. It is much easier to travel north and south than travel east and west. Of course there is congestion, like any city. It takes me 25 min to get to work when I report at 9 (no traffic). It can take me 35-45 the days I have to report at 8 (with everyone else in the city driving at the same time). But I have one of the longer commutes at my work - I loved my neighborhood and declined to move out of it when the workplace building moved. Most everybody else just sold and bought new nearer the office.

There are a couple homebuilders still operating. Almost all their signs (for brand new, north or east location, 3-4 br/2 bath) for home sales say the cost is in the $200,000 - $300,000 range (and falling). Houses in older parts of the city (sometimes only a mile or two from the new building areas) can be much cheaper. I'm a 4-minute drive from a new community, and houses in my area are selling for $150,000 - $180,000 or therabouts for a similar sized and apportioned home.

We have an airport, too. We're only 60-90 minutes from Denver's, but not having to pay parking up there is nice.

We have a zoo, Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and the Air Force Academy for major tourist attractions. There are multiple smaller ones like Cave of the Winds, Seven Falls, the Cliff Dwellings, and the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame for local day trips. Lots of hiking areas. 315 days of sunlight a year (more than Miami!) Very few bugs - they dislike the altitude and dislike the lack of humidity. The air is dry. Fishing and hunting are easy to find a day's drive away. Camping areas are within a couple hours drive. Skiing/snowboarding/tubing is near Denver. Whitewater rafting in the summer.

I'm starting to sound like a tourist brochure! If you have any more questions, just let me know.

[Cjmeck]

OMG Diane! Thank you! I'm showing DH your post And yes, you should work in tourism! lol Btw, if we wanted a newer home in the 175-200k range (either in the north or east) can you name any subdivisions? Close to shopping (like the necessary-evil Walmart) is super important since I forget things constantly!

[DianeS]

There are a LOT of areas that meet those criteria. I think they put all the WalMarts about 20-30 minutes from each other - you'd be hard pressed to find a house where you had to drive more than 10 minutes to get to a WalMart! I have a WalMart 8 minutes away, and another 12 minutes away. If you add SuperTarget to the list of stores you're willing to go to, that driving time drops even more. Plus Sam's, CostCo, and various grocery stores and drug stores make it even easier.

Colorado Springs is really too big to list individual subdivisions you might be interested in. But if you google for "homes for sale Colorado Springs", many of the sites have search features. You can search by price (I found 235 homes in your price range just on one site), and if that's too many results you can narrow it by lot size, number of bedrooms, square footage, year built, etc. (When I narrowed it by year built, 6 of those homes were built in the last four years, 16 more if you go back nine years.) You get the idea!

One hint about geography is zip codes. For the most part, they are assigned south to north. So 80922 is further north than 80907. That isn't 100% accurate, but it's awfully close.

When you come out on a house-hunting trip, any decent real estate agent will be able to direct you to what you're looking for. Your price range, your school district choice, number of minutes from your husband's work, and stuff like that sounds easy to me. You're not asking for anything difficult, and agents want the buisiness right now.

[TigerLily]

Hi I don't post much but I thought since we have lived in the Springs on and off for the last 12 years and DH is AD AF as well I would chime in.

I have read here how awful the south part of town is and I have found that not to be true. When we lived up north (in the Stetsion Hills area) we used to hear how bad "Security" is as well. I thought there was higher crime and crappy housing as well until we moved down here. Let me tell you it is wonderful. There is no more crime down here than any of the other parts of the city we have lived in and it has a great small town feel. We are close to Wal-Mart, Safeway, Lowes and most everything else we need and we don't have to put up with the traffic the other parts of the city have. Our school district is great and they run the community center that has all the youth sports and other activities including the pool and local library, not part of the Pikes Peak Library District. Plus the homes are established but not old, our is about 15 years old. It is a very diverse area with lots of young kids.

When we first came back here DH was stationed at Cheyenne Mnt and his commute time was about 15 minutes compred to the 45 when we lived up north. Now that he is at Schriever it is still about 15 minutes.

I don't know if you are interested, but Peterson AFB is in the process of building a ton of new houses and they look pretty nice. We personally, can't stand living on base so we bought our house. If you want to PM me I can give you the name of a good real estate agent who helped us buy our house. She works with a lot of military and has been in the Springs for years and really knows the area.

Good luck with your move.