Colorado Springs Good/Bad Areas to Invest in SFH Rental

[Christopher Carson]

Hey BP Ladies & Gents,

First post in the forums. My fiance & I are looking at 2-3 bedrooms to buy and hold as rental properties in Colorado Springs. We live in Denver, and I have a few years experience in SFH property management but ZERO experience on the acquisition side.

As I'm scouring the MLS for deals, I don't know the springs area well enough to know the good/bad neighborhoods, school districts, etc. I'm curious - can any locals weigh in here on what the dynamics are w/ school districts, what areas (if any) I should be avoiding, or any other advice/info on the area. I definitely will be going out to explore the city some more, but am in the process of relocating back to Denver from Nashville.

Any input would help & I would so appreciate if any local investors would be willing to chat!!

Thank you - Chris

[Norberto Villanueva]

@Christopher Carson - thanks for posting. As a real estate practitioner in the Colorado Springs market for a better part of the last 15 years, I can recite the obvious...School District 20 has an excellent reputation overall, the north and southeast quadrants are some of the fastest growing and the southwest is largely quite desirable. But then, there are many fine schools in School District 11 and others to consider. There's also that the downtown and airport (Powers) corridors are picking up steam, along with its real estate. Of course, we have the nation's first Olympic Museum going in and are projected to be its Cyber Security capital, with a central location going into a now blighted area of North Nevada really soon, all of which will affect real estate values in the near future. Oh, and I love the Palmer Park area, where $500k fabulous homes are surrounded by $250k bread and butter properties.

With too many pockets throughout the market to realistically say, my two cents are to determine what your investment criteria are, line up your proof of financing and/or funding capacity and/or to work with a local, investor focused real estate broker that can bring the resources and contacts (boots on the ground) you need to help you source, acquire and even manage your REI efforts.

I hope this helps and wish you all the best!