Longmont or Littleton? Somewhere else? (Denver, Colorado Springs: for sale, real estate, crime)

[1111tmw]

Hello! My family and I will be relocating to CO this summer due to my husband's job. I am trying to narrow down a specific area that would be best for us. I will list our criteria below. It seems that Longmont or Littleton might be a good fit for us. I would love to hear if I am on the right track (why or why not?) or if other areas might be a better fit for us. We plan to visit in March to look at houses, so I want to have a few target areas narrowed down.

A little about us: Family of 4. My husband works primarily from home and just needs to be within 2 hours of Denver for an occasional work trip. I am a middle/high school math teacher and school counselor with 13 years teaching/counseling experience and will be looking for employment. We have 2 daughters, ages 11 and 9.

What we are looking for:
1. small/mid-sized city or suburb (approx. 20,00-100,000): We would like to have common amenities...groceries, Lowe's or Home Depot, maybe a Target, some restaurants. We don't need high end shopping (malls, department stores, etc.)
2. Reasonable cost-of-living. I don't want to sacrifice safety, and I am willing to pay somewhat of a premium to live in a clean, safe place. But, we can't do Boulder prices. We will be looking for a 3-4 bedroom home (dated is OK) for around 300K.
3. Strong competitive gymnastics program: Both of my girls are competitive gymnasts, so finding an outstanding training program (USAG JO) for them is extremely important to us.
4. Strong homeschooling community- We homeschool our girls, so we are looking for homeschooling classes, meet-ups, or enrichment programs.
5. Scenic with "character"- Natural beauty is important to us. We currently live in a "cookie cutter" area with endless strip malls and traffic (Yuck!). I would love to have a cute downtown with character. Walking/biking friendly area would be great. Another plus would be a farmer's market and/or healthy/natural foods restaurants.
6. A school district that is good to its teachers (including pay/benefits)

Thank you for any insight you can provide!

[NW Crow]

Excellent organization and provision of specifics.

Both appear to meet first 4 criteria, but "strong" is for you to judge.

In Littleton 4 options listed here http://www.cousag.com/ClubList.php

in Longmont http://airbornegym.com/gymnastics-teams/

Home schooling links

Littleton http://tinyurl.com/nnofd5u
Longmont http://tinyurl.com/nn6etgm

I leave 5 & 6 for the locals.

There are probably other good candidates but these seems like fine choices to check further and visit in person.

[2bindenver]

Look into Colorado Springs. You don't get much for $300k in and around Denver anymore.

[davebarnes]

I just did a quick house for sale search.
$280-$320K, 3 bed in Littleton and Longmont.
Eleven houses. Yes, 11.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

Look into Colorado Springs. You don't get much for $300k in and around Denver anymore.

COLO SPGS tons of really nice homes in good school districts for under $300k. Plus a nice downtown, great scenery with views of Pikes Peak from most areas.

Here's a few from Colorado Springs Real Estate - Official MLS Listings - PPAR.com which is our local MLS site.

- Here's a 5-4-2 of 3500 sq ft in a very nice area with excellent schools for $299k.
- Here's a 4-3-2 of 2300 sq ft with a lot of new upgrades for $258k.

I found at least 23 homes in zip 80920 that meet your criteria.
I'm not a realtor nor in the business in any way.
We don't have the traffic of Denver Metro area but I'm only 90 minutes from downtown Denver or the Denver airport.
Hopefully you can visit the area and see what's here.
Here's a thread by a newbie here where we list things for her and her kids to do.

[goldenretriever1234]

To be perfectly honest, I would suggest Fort Collins, Loveland, or Greeley.

Here is downtown Greeley

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4248...7i13312!8i6656

Here is a historical area in Greeley also

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4196...7i13312!8i6656

Here is "West Greeley" (more suburbia, but safer, out here)

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4131...7i13312!8i6656

This is downtown Loveland

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3953...7i13312!8i6656

This is a historical neighborhood in Loveland

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3974...7i13312!8i6656

This is suburbia Loveland

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3962...7i13312!8i6656

This is downtown Fort Collins

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5775...7i13312!8i6656

Historical Fort Collins

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5817...7i13312!8i6656

Suburbia Fort Collins (Fort Collins is mostly suburbia)

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5055...7i13312!8i6656

Now, for safety, this is the Citydata crime index:

1. Greeley: 327.3
2. Loveland: 194.9
3. Fort Collins: 188.4

So yeah, Greeley definitely is the most dangerous of the three. Schools in Greeley are pretty bad also.

Natural beauty?

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4166...7i13312!8i6656- Greeley

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.4058...7i13312!8i6656- Loveland

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.5530...7i13312!8i6656- Fort Collins

All three cities have "high end shopping", but aren't over the top like Denver. First and foremost, I wouldn't recommend Littleton to you. Longmont is fine, but isn't all that charming with downtown.

Greeley is the cheapest of the three I recommend. Fort Collins is the most expensive. None compare to Boulder though.


THESE ARE JUST MY RECOMMENDATIONS. I'M NOT TELLING YOU TO MOVE TO THESE AREAS.