Possibly moving from San Diego to Salt Lake City (Green River: fit in, buying)

[BC999]

My brother and I are considering making a move from San Diego to SLC. We grew up in San Diego and have spent a little bit of time in the SLC area, albeit during the summer months.

We are debating if a move to SLC make sense based on the following:

1) How is the quality of life? We are interested in a slower pace of life with less of the "keep up with the joneses" mentality.

2) We are not LDS, so how will this impact our ability to fit in, meet people, and do business in the area? We are both younger guys in our late 20's/early 30's, so how will it be meeting new people in this age group?

3) How does SLC rank when it comes to access to outdoor activities like fly fishing, white water kayaking, skiing, hunting, etc.? We have narrowed our list down to SLC, Fort Collins, Boise, and possibly Bend. I am curious if SLC has the same access to outdoors activities as a place like Bend, OR.

4) How is the small business environment? We are thinking about starting or buying a business in SLC.

Any input that can be offered would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

[irman]

Originally Posted by BC999

We are debating if a move to SLC make sense based on the following:

1) How is the quality of life? We are interested in a slower pace of life with less of the "keep up with the joneses" mentality.

If you are not concerned with *keeping up with the Jonesens* you wont have to care ...

2) We are not LDS, so how will this impact our ability to fit in, meet people, and do business in the area? We are both younger guys in our late 20's/early 30's, so how will it be meeting new people in this age group?

As mention umpteen times before on this subject : You have a preconceived idea, that you will not fit in, you definitively will NOT fit in !

3) How does SLC rank when it comes to access to outdoor activities like fly fishing, white water kayaking, skiing, hunting, etc.? We have narrowed our list down to SLC, Fort Collins, Boise, and possibly Bend. I am curious if SLC has the same access to outdoors activities as a place like Bend, OR.

Whatever outdoorsy stuff you can think of, hardly anything can beat Utah !

4) How is the small business environment? We are thinking about starting or buying a business in SLC.

Entirely up to you !!

Welcome to Utah !!!

[SaraBeth07]

I can answer a couple of your questions, but not all. We've lived in the SLC area for 18 months that we have LOVED. I do feel like there is definitely a "keeping up with the Jones'" attitude, but I do think you'd find that anywhere. We are not LDS and have had a wonderful time here in Utah. A large majority of our friends and neighbors are Mormon and it is a non-issue. I imagine you may come across some for whom it is an issue, but I like to think they are in the minority.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by BC999

My brother and I are considering making a move from San Diego to SLC. We grew up in San Diego and have spent a little bit of time in the SLC area, albeit during the summer months.

We are debating if a move to SLC make sense based on the following:

1) How is the quality of life? We are interested in a slower pace of life with less of the "keep up with the joneses" mentality.

I'd say that would depend entirely on what part of the city you move to. As is any city, there are some snooty areas, but there are also some really down-to-earth, nice people who aren't necessarily trying to keep up with anybody.

2) We are not LDS, so how will this impact our ability to fit in, meet people, and do business in the area? We are both younger guys in our late 20's/early 30's, so how will it be meeting new people in this age group?

Again, depending upon where you chose to live, you could either fit in very nicely or not well at all. I would suggest that you consider downtown (it's nowhere near what you're used to with downtown San Diego), the Avenues, Westminster, 9th and 9th, or Sugarhouse.

3) How does SLC rank when it comes to access to outdoor activities like fly fishing, white water kayaking, skiing, hunting, etc.? We have narrowed our list down to SLC, Fort Collins, Boise, and possibly Bend. I am curious if SLC has the same access to outdoors activities as a place like Bend, OR.

Outdoor activities in the Salt Lake City area are unsurpassed. Period.

4) How is the small business environment? We are thinking about starting or buying a business in SLC.

Sorry, but I can't help you on that one. Someone else probably can. I'd say it would depend a lot on what kind of business you were looking to get into.

[mezman]

Originally Posted by BC999

My brother and I are considering making a move from San Diego to SLC. We grew up in San Diego and have spent a little bit of time in the SLC area, albeit during the summer months.

We are debating if a move to SLC make sense based on the following:

1) How is the quality of life? We are interested in a slower pace of life with less of the "keep up with the joneses" mentality.

There is keeping up with the Joneses everywhere. It feel like less in SLC than San Diego but that could just be based on where I live. I don't pay much attention to it anyway.

2) We are not LDS, so how will this impact our ability to fit in, meet people, and do business in the area? We are both younger guys in our late 20's/early 30's, so how will it be meeting new people in this age group?

Can't really help you there as I am outside of that age range and married. Nightlife seems pretty sad here but I can't really say that I look for it. There's a big university in town with plenty of grad students so I wouldn't think it'd be super hard to meet people but I could be wrong.

3) How does SLC rank when it comes to access to outdoor activities like fly fishing, white water kayaking, skiing, hunting, etc.? We have narrowed our list down to SLC, Fort Collins, Boise, and possibly Bend. I am curious if SLC has the same access to outdoors activities as a place like Bend, OR.

There is a ton of skiing, hiking, mountain biking, and snow shoeing. The city basically blends into the mountains and all of the above are available in very close proximity. As far as fly fishing I don't believe there are any blue ribbon trout streams in northern Utah (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) but there is supposedly some really good trout fishing on the Green River according to a Utah bucket list article I read. Idaho is close for blue ribbon fishing though. Dunno about kayaking and rafting... haven't had a chance to try those out. There's just too much other stuff to do that we haven't gotten to that yet.

4) How is the small business environment? We are thinking about starting or buying a business in SLC.

Can't say, it's a Republican controlled state though so I'd have to assume it's at least ok from a business perspective.

[cedarite]

I'm a business owner but do most of my business out of state. Things you need to look out for: if you're bringing a business that's in competition with a well connected existing one, be prepared for blowback, perhaps even organized blowback via complaint campaigns, roadblocking of permits, etc. Greasing the right palms can be expected in certain lines of business or the aforementioned problems can be unleashed upon you. There is a corruption problem. If you can sidestep these issues, it's fine for business. Since I do most of my business out of state, I sidestep most of that type of garbage.