Moving to Park City (Salt Lake City, Draper: real estate, crime rate, mortgage)

[lhampton]

I live in Heber City & absolutely love it!! We have the close proximity to Park City (15 minutes) but a lot more affordable living! The commute to Park City/SLC is no problem except for during the winter. 40 gets kind of slippery & takes a bit more time to cross over to I-80, but we just plan ahead for that. In the summer time, it takes us exactly 45 minutes to get from Heber to the SLC airport. The schools here are great, from what we hear & religion is not an issue. My husband & I are not Mormon & all of our neighbors (some are, some are not) still talk to us. When we moved in, we had neighbors just stop by & bring us welcome gifts, some even helped us lay our sod & we didn't even know their names! Not one of them have solicited us to become Mormon. I would never live in SLC, but highly recommend you looking into Heber!

[Calmeg29]

Despite what Native Utah people think, over half the population is NOT LDS. In fact, 49% are LDS, which means 51% are not. I have actively made sure my kids have found children with similar religious and extracurricular interests. It has not been hard at all. Park City is beautiful, but it is outrageous to live in. We found a 6 bedroom home in South Jordan for 1/10 of the price for the same exact house in Park City!! I work in Holladay- would never live there- it's about a 40 minute commute with traffic. Not that bad, especially if you have ever lived in a place where you commute to work!

[Blondie-Rabbit]

We lived in Park City for three years. I spent two of those years finishing up my bio chem degree at the U of U. You will hate the commute during a winter storm. They keep the road plowed, but it is herrendous when it snows just the same. Most the time it is clear. Heber is too far to commute from easily. It would be well over an hour in freeway driving time. I would if I could live in Park City. I love that place. It's just gotten ridiculously expensive. The schools are good. I had some troubles with them for reasons beyond acedemics. After living all over the USA, I can say that Park City schools acedemics are some of the best in the country. The schools do not allow the kids to use the bathrooms during recesses in the lower elementrary grades. Tell a child who has to pee that they can't go to the bathroom and see what happens. My son in the second grade, went to the far end of the playground and whizzed on the bushes. They tried to have him expelled from school. My daughter was at the middle school and they do not maintain their athletic field since it is city property. The city refuses to maintain it since it is used by the school. My daughter cracked her ankle after a serious fall in a hole that was disgusied by grass that had been mowed over the top. She had to be out there it was part of the P.E. class.

[mojodog]

Thanks a million for your reply. My husband is moving to SLC in a few weeks to start his job... I'll be a few months behind him; just getting ready to sell the house here. He plans on 'driving the commute' to SLC from the PC area to decide on how far East we can go. We already purchased an AWD vehicle and will probably trade out the other vehicle for another AWD or 4WD once I arrive. I've heard a lot about Summit Park and Synderville and Kimball Junction. I think that Heber City and Midway will be too long of a commute to SLC. Can you recommend any specific neighborhoods? It's just us and a pack of dogs, however, we usually buy a 3 to 4 bedroom house ~3000+ square feet. It's amazing how popular you become when you live where friends and family want to visit

[Speagle]

Summit Park has the shortest commute to SLC. It is at the top of the pass on your right as you travel east up Parley's canyon on I-80.Jeremy Ranch and Pinebrook subdivisions are at the bottom of the slope after you crest the summit about 1-2 miles further. Pinebrook is on the right and Jeremy ranch is on the left. Kimball junction is 2 miles further. I think you may want to start your search in any of these three, but as been mentioned before tell your hubby to bundle up!! good luck with your search.

[sail'em]

With good car, snow tires, and positive attitude, you'll have alot of fun in heber or p.c. Personal tolerances will tell you which of those will be you best option.
Neighbors are one of the most important pieces of the puzzle for us and we love our neighborhood, lots of dogs, kids, and active nice people.

[love2ski]

We currently live on the outskirts of Park City proper (unincorporated Snyderville Basin area). We have lived here for 7 years and moved up from Salt Lake City where we lived for about 15 years. We have a son in 6th grade. We loved Salt Lake City and lived in the Sugarhouse area. This is a liberal area with wonderful old homes with a lot of character. We were 5 minutes from work then. We moved to PC because of the summer heat and winter inversions in SLC. We live in a great neighborhood here with wonderful views of 3 ski resorts but we were very lucky and got in before the house prices went nuts! My husband and I both commute to SLC every day which can be tiresome. We drive small cars with good snow tires and hardly ever have a problem getting to work. Pro's of PC: great outdoor activities, cool temps in summer, beautiful scenery, nicely maintained schools, lots of activities for kids. Cons of PC: Lots of money; it is very hard not to feel poor! Although we make good money on a national average there are so many people with SO much more here. So many parents here don't have to work 9-5 jobs (both!) and can be so involved in their kids lives that one can feel inadequate if you aren't on the PTA AND volunteering every day in school. It's hard not to covet! I've heard teachers complaining of too much parent involvement. Regarding the religious issue: We are not religious so the other religions can be just as irritating as the LDS to us. If you are Catholic, there is a large, active Catholic community in PC as well as SLC. We also are getting a Jewish synagogue. We are ocassionally approached by missionaries in both SLC and PC but they are very polite and listen patiently while I explain my views. My son has had an ocassional instance where a friendship isn't allowed to develop because he is not LDS. This has happened in both PC and SLC but I think will happen less frequently as he gets older. PC and the outlying areas are growing very rapidly. This is causing major traffic headaches and I understand the county is going to have to start monitoring air quality. Lots of big box stores and condos. I'm afraid we may soon become Vail. Heber is very pretty and I know lots of people who live there and work in PC and have not had problems with being accepted by the dominant culture. Be prepared to never understand the liquor laws no matter where you live in UT.

[jhwest]

Jeremy ranch gets less snow (keep in mind, though, that it's park city so there will still be a ton) My inlaws live in Jeremy Ranch and get about 4-6' per winter. My SIL lives way up at the top of Pinebrook and has already gotten over 6'. Usually they get upwards of 8'. I hate driving to her house in the winter.
My BIL drives the commute to Sugarhouse everyday. After 7 years he's pretty sick of it. But they have boys in high school so they've got to wait a couple more years to get out of there.

[BuckeyezRule]

LOL We've become more 'popular' since moving to Utah w/ having visitors too. LOL

[mojodog]

I appreciate everyone's comments. They've been SO helpful. I'm presently visiting the area - house hunting mostly. My husband is in a temp. place in Taylorsville and is looking for another temp. place in Park City starting April 1st. I just got our house on the market [South East US] and am hoping for a quick sale. I met some 'local' people here who all state that Park City is definitely a buyer's market right now. I must be looking in the wrong place! We feel that Summit Park, albeit nailed w/snow every year, would be the easiest location for the SLC commute. We've also fallen in love w/Pinebrook and some of Jeremy Ranch. Still reeling from the sticker shock, we've broached the idea of living in Cottonwood Heights/the Benches area. This keeps us on the East side of SLC for easy runs to Park to play on the weekend. I'd hate to make that mistake, if it is a mistake, and live too close to SLC. Am I correct to think that this area is not far enough away from SLC's summer heat and the inversion Jan through March. We have aging parents w/health issues... who are not permitted to visit us during inversion [Physician's orders!]. Any thoughts?