Fort Collins House

Becca and I traveled last week to Fort Collins to look for a house. We had a great realtor. He took us around town to give us a tour so we could get a better feel for the neighborhoods and amenities. Fort Collins has great park and school systems.

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There are 6 community sized parks, which means somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 acres, including ball fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, soccer fields, etc. Each one also has a focus area. One has a disc golf course, indoor pool and 2 ice skating rinks. One has a small working farm. One has a roller hockey rink. One has a BMX course. In addition to these, each square mile has at least 1 smaller neighborhood park.

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The public school system is also run very well. They let the schools compete with other schools and you can transfer your kids if you want. There are IB as well as AP programs. Around 50% of the adults in Fort Collins have at least a bachelors degree (much higher than the national average), so the people believe in education.

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We also went by some theatres and other places of interest. Downtown (which was the inspiration for Main Street, USA at Disney World) is a nice, walkable area with some really cool shops and restaurants.

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Overall, Becca was impressed. She had tempered her expectations just in case it seemed too small town, but she really was happy with our choice. It's a great place to raise a family.

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After the tour, we started looking at houses. Our realtor had sent us listings and we had narrowed it down to about 10 favorites. After viewing all 10 of them, the day was almost done. The next day, we went back to two we liked more than the others, decided on one, ran a market comparison, put together an offer, and sent it. By Saturday night, we had a contract. Here is a picture of it. It's a 2-story 4 bed/3.5 bath with a basement at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. We are happy with it. There are few things we'll change over the years, but mostly it's all cosmetic (kitchen countertops, flooring, etc.).

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During our trip, Riley stayed with some friends here in Austin. She definitely had a good time. We'll probably save this for another post. Becca and I had a nice time being together and getting excited for our move and future.