Where to live in Salt Lake City area? (Sandy, Bountiful: hardwood floors, best city)

[Mid-West Family]

My family and I are moving this winter to the Salt Lake City Area. I would like to know what the different neighborhoods are like. We are considering the Cottonwood, Draper, Sandy area. We are in our 40's with 3 elementary age kids and I'm a stay at home mom. We would like an area that is not predominately LDS. We are active in our Protestant church here in the mid-west, and would like to find a church family in Utah. We are looking for a nice house between $550,000 and $650,000. Some of the neighborhoods I've read about are: Suncrest, Draper Heights, South Mountain, Village Green, and Spring Pointe. Does anyone know about these areas. I would appreciate any information.

[Juanito]

Make sure you don't move to a place that is sliding down hill.

But as long as your lot isn't Snowboarding down the hill, the places you mentioned are very nice.

You will be a religious minority, though.

But I think there are Protestant churches close enough.

Well, I can't seem to make it into a Hyperlink, but check out the Salt Lake Tribune link I have above.

The bottom line is that those are pretty much nice places, as long as there are no problems with erosion. And you will be far away from Reprobates like me that live on the West Side.

[eggalegga]

I would recommend you find a church you'd like to attend here in the SL valley and then search for housing around that. Those are all nice areas. As you are probably aware, Draper is the furthest away from downtown Salt Lake and Cottonwood would be closest. My friends who live on the mountain in Draper have had some flooding problems. But I'm not sure if they're related to living on the mountain or not. Their backyard is right up against the mountain. A little to close for comfort for my taste. They bought this home in December of 2006. I'm not sure what they paid for it.

Single Family / 2-Story Modern
Built: 1998
$368,800

5 Total Bedrooms:
Flr 2: 3
Basement: 2

4.00 Total Bathrooms:
Flr 1: 1 Half
Flr 2: 2 Full

Basement: 1 ThreeQrts

Other Rooms:
Flr 1 Family Room / Den, Flr 1 Kitchen Dining, Flr 1 Bar Dining, Flr 1 Semi Formal Dining, Flr 1 Laundry, Bsmt Family Room / Den r:

Flr 1: 1038 sq. ft.
Flr 2: 979 sq. ft.
Basement: 1008 sq. ft.
Total: 3025 sq. ft.
0.18 Acres

Bath-Sep Tub/Shower, Closet-Walk-In, Dishwasher, Disposal, Gas Log, Hardwood Floors, Range-Gas, Vaulted Ceilings
Window Cov: Blinds
Air Cond: Central Air Electric
Heating: Forced Air
Basement: (96% Finished) Full eatures Include:
Exterior: Bay/Box Windows, Deck, Double Pane, Entry(Foyer)
Lot: Curb & Gutter, Fenced Part, Sidewalks, Sprinkler, Auto-Full, View, Mtn, View, Valley
Landscape: Full Landscaping, Scrub Oak
Roof: Asphalt Shingle
Exterior: Aluminum/Vinyl, Stone, Stucco
Patio/Deck: 1 Deck
Garage/Parking: Attached, Opener
Garage Capacity: 2

Inclusions: Alarm System, Ceiling Fan, Microwave, Range, Refrigerator, Water Soft Own, Window Covers
Amenities: Cable TV avail, Cable TV wired, Electric Dryer Hookup, Gas Dryer Hookup, Home Warranty

Water: Culinary
Sewer: Public

Elementary: Oak Hollow
Jr High: Crescent View
High School: Alta

[BuhByeCalifornia]

Hi there...

We just moved to UT from California in August. We too were searching for areas and we looked pretty much at all of the cities you mentioned above...

-Draper: very nice neighborhoods...Suncrest is WAAAAY up the mountain but some nice neighborhoods as well. Shopping is great. LOTS of new construction spec houses for sale there. Lots of little kids there for playmates.

-Sandy: closer to downtown than Draper...great shopping as well since the South Town Mall is right there. Some really nice neighborhoods by the mountain. Sandy seems to be more mature as in I don't think there's a whole lot of new construction if that's what you're looking for. But lots of little kids there and activities for them.

-Cottonwood: Also a very nice neighborhood. I got the impression that Cottonwood is also very mature...since we have 3 little kids too, we opted to not settle in Cottonwood since we were told that there weren't as many younger kids in those neighborhoods

Now...after looking at those areas, we ended up NOT landing in any of them! Since we wanted to build a house from scratch, Cottonwood and Sandy basically didn't have any lots available that we liked well enough (they're both pretty built up). We were ready to move on a lot in Draper since we liked that area (lots of California and out-of-state transplants there) but we found an even better lot where we ended up landing - in North Salt Lake.

This was an area we've never really heard about but our builder found us an amazing lot that has a view of the Eaglewood Golf Course. NSL is only 10 minutes north of Salt Lake City so it's really a breeze to get to downtown. Homes in this neighborhood range from $350,000 - $8,000,000 - it really is eye candy just driving around the neighborhoods around the golf course to look at all the homes. But since the golf course is HUGE and kind of cut up...there are homes that will still be adjacent to golf course property and be in your price range.

Within your price range, you'll get a home in excess 4000 sf. Now our house is still under construction (we're currently renting in Bountiful just 5 minutes away) but we interact regularly with our neighbors up there and let me tell ya...as extremely affluent as some of our neighbors are...I have never met such a down-to-earth, humble, and accepting group of people in my life.

Since it's SOO-O close to downtown, I'm sure you'll find a great church that you'll love.

Our neighborhood in California was a very "keeping up with the Joneses" type of neighborhood and it's amazing how it's SO NOT like that in Eaglewood. You'll see these people with amazing houses yet will drive an old truck regularly.

Most of the moms in my neighborhood are stay-at-home moms with young kids too. While the neighborhood is diverse (lots of empty nesters), there is also a large population of families similar to you - mid 30's to mid 40's with young kids - professions are typically lawyers, accountants, doctors, and business owners.

Anyway...I just wanted to throw that idea out at you because it was an area we would have never considered...but we seriously think we've hit the jackpot when we found this neighborhood.

LINKS:

Welcome to North Salt Lake :: Gateway to Davis County (the picture on the site is of the Eaglewood Golf Course)
Eaglewood Golf Course (this site has a virtual tour of the golf course so you can see what the neighborhoods look like)

Good luck!

[mawilson]

Whatever you do don't move to the West side of SLC. its dangerous, dirty, the houses are cheap but for a good reason. . The east side is more expensive, but a lot better community. Do you know what part you will be working in? Sandy is an awesome place to live and raise a family. its on the South East side of the city. (about 20- 25) min from downtown.

[deamgabe]

I have lived in Sandy, Draper, Midvale (Ft. Union area) and South Jordan.
All these cities are good to live, safe, clean and family-oriented.
Sandy is a more traditional and older city, older homes and some newer communities being built lately, some road constructions to widen major streets, but convenient location on the East side of the valley. Draper is a newer community, on the south end of SLC metro area, beautiful mountains in backdrop, homes a bit pricier but a very safe city to live too. Midvale is an older city, Ft. Union area is nicer, try to stay to the eastern part of the city because to the west of State St. it is not that good, not safe to live... lots of shopping and restaurants around Ft. Union area besides the I-215 loop which connects to the major I-15 freeway. South Jordan is a new community as well, on the southwest end of SLC, nice homes and bigger lots, convenient location but pricier homes. It is growing a lot right now, many business buildings being built, so there are many people buying homes here right now, about 25 minutes to downtown SLC.
It is hard to say which city is best, it just depends on what you are looking for, I guess the best way to find out would be coming to town and spending a few days here to come to your own conclusions and make a decision.
I hope this helps. Good luck!

[weecamlass]

I live in the Liberty Park area, which I love. Houses here won't be big enough for you, though. I'd say the perfect neighborhood for you would be Holladay, which is just south of I-80 and on the east side (you do want to stay on the east side). Any of the places in the south end of the valley (Sandy, Draper) will be heavily Mormon, and your kids might have trouble with Mormon parents who don't want their kids playing with non-Mormons (really, this happens). So I'd stick to places further north, which are closer to the amenities of downtown anyway. You should be able to find a nice house in your price range, with good schools and neighborhoods that are less Mormon (and the Mormons who live there will be more chilled out than those in the south end of the valley).

If you like older houses/neighborhoods, you could even try going farther north in your search, to Sugarhouse or the east side of Salt Lake proper.

Of your options above, Cottonwood Heights would be best. Stay away from Draper, and whatever you do, don't go any further south than that, either.

[jimdog]

herriman is a great place to live in that price range. it's a little far from the freeway (15 min.) big deal. you will have to drive a ways to go to a protestant church but it's a new CLEAN, growing area. in my opinion the best city in utah. has views of the entire valley and mountains and most of our neighbors are transplants from other states.

[TandDeXpress]

There are also alot of homes in the Millcreek area. Its beautiful and you have got really great communities and great schools.

[Sac69_Calimom]

Hi, I have to agree that Herriman is full of georgeous views and beautiful homes and much more reasonable than California. As you can probably tell, we are also transplants from Ca and have been here a little over a year. Neighbors are great,(we are not LDS) schools are not overcrowded and riddled with gangs,cost of living is better, and jobs are plentiful! We made a great move;the only problem I have in utah are the BAD drivers!! They don't merge or let you merge into traffic, they speed,run red lights, tailgate, and always drive with high beams on after dark even when they don't need to,like on city streets for example...Other than that pet peeve of mine,all has been well here in Utah. Good luck.