living "down town" (Salt Lake City, Bountiful: renting, condos, houses)

[Jay1981]

Hey Again.

This forum has been so helpful, figured I'd try back.

Last I posted, everyone recommended Sugar House, Avenues, etc. Very cool areas.

After a week long house hunting trip, where we stayed at the Hilton down town, we actually really liked being down town.

What can the group tell me about actually living down town? I know SLC is relatively safe compared to other major metro cities, right? We were out "late" (i know SLC shuts down pretty early, really not a big deal by us - and actually makes it more livable, i think) - and never felt unsafe, although there definitely is a "city" feel, with homeless, etc. We're expecting (and used to) that, to an extent, after short stints in LA and NYC before living in a more suburban area currently.

My biggest concern.... which i mentioned in another thread... is parking for our toys. Very little garage space it seems down town.

Any input is awesome!

BTW - looking at city creek area, gateway, etc.

[mezman]

Originally Posted by Jay1981

Hey Again.

This forum has been so helpful, figured I'd try back.

Last I posted, everyone recommended Sugar House, Avenues, etc. Very cool areas.

After a week long house hunting trip, where we stayed at the Hilton down town, we actually really liked being down town.

What can the group tell me about actually living down town? I know SLC is relatively safe compared to other major metro cities, right? We were out "late" (i know SLC shuts down pretty early, really not a big deal by us - and actually makes it more livable, i think) - and never felt unsafe, although there definitely is a "city" feel, with homeless, etc. We're expecting (and used to) that, to an extent, after short stints in LA and NYC before living in a more suburban area currently.

My biggest concern.... which i mentioned in another thread... is parking for our toys. Very little garage space it seems down town.

Any input is awesome!

BTW - looking at city creek area, gateway, etc.

One of the people my wife interviewed with before we moved here lived at Gateway and they loved it. I don't think they had any issues and recommended it to us since we were looking for more of the city feel than being out in the 'burbs.

We ended up renting a house just north of Liberty Park (approx. 600 E 500 S) and we love it. It's close to downtown and we walk or take the TRAX everywhere. My wife drives to work two days a week because she has to be multiple places and we drive to mountains most every weekend for hiking and that's about all the driving we do (I work from home and we went down to one car when we moved). We love it so much we're considering buying this house once my wife's training is over. So you might want to consider this area as well... the only issue is parking for your toys as not all houses in this area have garages and the ones that do tend to have small ones.

At any rate we're loving SLC thus far. We'll see how the winter goes with inversions and we'll go from there. Best of luck.

[rallybug]

My wife (Bountiful native all her life) reckons that downtown SLC comprises 700 E to 600 W, and North Temple to about 900 S. You could use that as your guide for areas, and the further out from the actual center you get, the more likely you are to find a house with an OK lot size. I'd probably look for the half-block streets (like Blair St between S 300 E and S 400 E, below E 800 S) - not recommending any in particular as I don't know the area that well, but the Google satellite view does show them as looking quieter than the main thoroughfares.

[CCSLC]

I'd recommend downtown, too, but I think the residential portion of downtown goes east to 900 East. East of that is more University residential than downtown.

Garages are hard to come by (at least if they are affordable), but there are a few around. A good realtor would be able find them, though you often sacrifice yard for garage (such as in the Avenues).

[Perdition]

I have seen some cheap condos near 1500W 200S. I have looked around the area using Google street view but doesn't seem to be anything near it.

Anyone familiar with the area know where you would go for shopping with no car or how safe it is around there? I heard some things about Pioneer park which is a few blocks east of that area but I don't want to pre-judge until I hear from people who actually live or have lived around that area.

Thanks in advance.

[Chango]

We've considered moving from the suburbs to downtown and looked a little (I work downtown and it would be nice to be able to walk to work), the problem for me is that a tiny 1 bedroom condo downtown costs the same as the average 2500-3000 sq ft suburban house with a big yard in a decent neighborhood 10-15 miles away. "Urban living" seems to be a bit of a novelty in this state and you will pay for the "privilege".

[brottishluv]

Originally Posted by Chango

We've considered moving from the suburbs to downtown and looked a little (I work downtown and it would be nice to be able to walk to work), the problem for me is that a tiny 1 bedroom condo downtown costs the same as the average 2500-3000 sq ft suburban house with a big yard in a decent neighborhood 10-15 miles away. "Urban living" seems to be a bit of a novelty in this state and you will pay for the "privilege".

SQ footage is more expensive when you are downtown no matter what state you live in. Salt Lake City is pretty cheap to live downtown in when compared to many other cities.

[Chango]

Originally Posted by brottishluv

SQ footage is more expensive when you are downtown no matter what state you live in. Salt Lake City is pretty cheap to live downtown in when compared to many other cities.

Sure... I understand that, especially in a place like NYC where there is only so much land to build on with plenty of competition for space and it is a traffic nightmare to get in or out of downtown... or even no strong reason to regularly leave downtown!

SLC on the other hand is not like that; it's not a huge hassle to get in/out and there are no obvious factors holding back high density development besides the number of potential customers who actually want to live a "big city" lifestyle. The benefits of living in downtown SLC (culture, arts, excitement and action in general) are fairly lame compared to those of a very large city too.

In the end, it's just a trendy niche market here, I suppose...

[brottishluv]

People are willing to pay for it, I don't know why those making a profit would make it cheaper just to be fair.

Since moving downtown my entire lifestyle has changed and I definitely think the higher premium is worth it, at least for me.