What are the best neighborhoods for an early 50’s couple who WFH? (Denver: appointed, houses)

[scully2010]

My husband and I are considering a few cities for a pre-retirement move within the next 1-5 years. Starting our research. We just drove through Denver, since he lived in Aurora in the mid-90’s, but it had no appeal. We are now considering Colorado Springs but we would like advice on neighborhoods. We currently live in Kentucky.

We want Mountain Views, a good school district, and a luxurious home with at least 4 bedrooms so we can turn 2 into offices. Our top budget is $1.1 million but we’d rather pay $900,000 to $1 million. We both work from home so commuting isn’t an issue. We want to be within 15 minutes of a hospital, restaurants and shopping.

Where should we look? Thanks!

[YoYoSpin]

Sounds like north Briargate/Pine Creek, Wolf Ranch, Cordera, Flying Horse or The Farm are the neighborhoods you're looking for. Lots to choose from within your hign-end (for COS) budget. All of these areas are on the northeast side of Colorado Springs, with two major hospitals, shopping and restaurants within a 5 minute drive.

[dr.frog]

With a $1M budget you can afford just about anything in COS short of an actual mansion near the Broadmoor or Old North End, or something like that. Of the neighborhoods listed by the previous poster, the most upscale one is Flying Horse. The best school districts are generally considered to be D20 (northern part of the city) and D11 (Broadmoor area). The city's main hospitals (Memorial Central and Penrose) are downtown, but each has a big campus on the north side of town too (Memorial is near Briargate/Union, Penrose at Woodmen/Powers). Mountain views are better if you are north and/or east than right up against the foothills.

Google maps is really useful when you are house hunting; plug in the address of a house you like and use the "search nearby" feature to see where it is relative to hospitals, restaurants, etc. Street view is useful for checking out whether there is a view of the mountains, but beware that some of the newer developments (e.g., large parts of Wolf Ranch) haven't been mapped yet.

[Mike from back east]

There are some very nice homes in Pine Creek well within the budget, D20 schools, near shopping and convenient to I-25 but distant enough to avoid the highway noise.

I lived in that area for 11 years and liked that the fencing between homes was not the awful wooden stockade type but a metal bar type of fence that blended in and did not assault the eyes like the stockades.

I'm not a realtor nor in the business in any way.

[mojo101]

it is everywhere ,

[scully2010]

Thanks for the input. The fact that we can get something really nice within our budget in Colorado Springs is one of the reasons we're considering it. When we looked at Denver, and Boulder, we were very disappointed at our options. We are also considering Fort Collins. We just did a 5,000-mile road trip and looked at places to live as we drove, but didn't make it to Colorado Springs or Fort Collins. Luckily we have time to explore before we make a decision. It's very helpful to know of specific neighborhoods so we can look at houses online. We've learned that just because a house is nice doesn't mean the neighborhood it's in will work for us.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by scully2010

We want Mountain Views, a good school district, and a luxurious home with at least 4 bedrooms so we can turn 2 into offices. Our top budget is $1.1 million but we’d rather pay $900,000 to $1 million. We both work from home so commuting isn’t an issue. We want to be within 15 minutes of a hospital, restaurants and shopping.

Where should we look? Thanks!

Good simple first level requirements. What else is important? Must be new construction or are you willing to work with older and how old? Style of construction? Walkability? Proximity to other amenities? How near growth and construction equipment? what constitutes views of mountains - ie a range view from a distance or close proximity? Access to parks of either manmade or natural varieties? Willingess to deal with HOAs and a range of restrictions?

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

The first question you need to answer is whether you want to be in a new development or an old neighborhood. You can actually get into some stuff in the Broadmoor area and Old North End for that budget, and those areas feel very different than Pine Creek. Do you want a suburban feel, or do you want to be in the city? Do you actually want to be close to the mountains and feel like you are right on the edge of them, or do you just want good mountain views? If you want a suburban feel in a new or new-ish development, the areas mentioned above are great. But if you hate the suburbs and new construction, they'd be a terrible option.

Either way, you have a lot of options with your budget.

----------------------------
I think a few photos can be illustrative here.

This one is in the Flying Horse area and is $935,000 (https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...1_M28685-34628)




This one is in Rockrimmon and is $950,000 (https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...M23157-25646):




This one is near the Broadmoor, probably just a bit outside of what most would consider to be "Broadmoor proper," and is $800,000 (https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...M15719-23299):




All three are nice, but all three are very different.

[wilberry]

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...81737695_zpid/



you can spend the rest of your money planting full-size pine trees

[lmcpherson8]

Originally Posted by scully2010

My husband and I are considering a few cities for a pre-retirement move within the next 1-5 years. Starting our research. We just drove through Denver, since he lived in Aurora in the mid-90’s, but it had no appeal. We are now considering Colorado Springs but we would like advice on neighborhoods. We currently live in Kentucky.

We want Mountain Views, a good school district, and a luxurious home with at least 4 bedrooms so we can turn 2 into offices. Our top budget is $1.1 million but we’d rather pay $900,000 to $1 million. We both work from home so commuting isn’t an issue. We want to be within 15 minutes of a hospital, restaurants and shopping.

Where should we look? Thanks!

My husband and I are planning on moving to Woodland Park once I retire as a teacher in a little over a year. I think you may find it really appealing, too. The neighborhood we came across feels like we're away from it all, with Pikes Peak views, but you're actually still close to clinics, pharmacies, groceries, etc.. It's about 30 mins. or so mins. away from Colorado Springs. That's wonderful that you both work from home. My husband is hoping to find a job like that. You should check the area out, if you haven't already. Good luck! I can't wait until we get to relocate!