Help Me Move To Utah...please? (Salt Lake City, Provo: real estate, property taxes, tornado)

[goldpolkadots]

Hello
For the past year or so, my family and I have been preparing to move to a new state. We currently live in northern Indiana and cannot stand living in this horrible location any longer.

Because we have never traveled out west, I was hoping someone might recommend a town, or at least a general area of Utah that might suit our needs and wants. Some things we are looking for include:
-low crime
-low humidity (below 40%)
-not too much snow
-no really severe weather (F3-F5 tornado, huge snowstorms)
-near a college & elementary school
-no flooding
-possibly a nice small town near a big town
-shopping centers

I know this is a lot to ask for, but we were wondering if there is any area in Utah that meets all/most/some of these things.

Any feedback as to nice places to live in Utah or even places to stay away from is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[dojilynn]

Originally Posted by goldpolkadots

Hello
For the past year or so, my family and I have been preparing to move to a new state. We currently live in northern Indiana and cannot stand living in this horrible location any longer.

Because we have never traveled out west, I was hoping someone might recommend a town, or at least a general area of Utah that might suit our needs and wants. Some things we are looking for include:
-low crime
-low humidity (below 40%)
-not too much snow
-no really severe weather (F3-F5 tornado, huge snowstorms)
-near a college & elementary school
-no flooding
-possibly a nice small town near a big town
-shopping centers

I know this is a lot to ask for, but we were wondering if there is any area in Utah that meets all/most/some of these things.

Any feedback as to nice places to live in Utah or even places to stay away from is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Hi, goldpolkadots! I think you have a great chance of finding a place that matches all of your criteria. I live in Layton, which is about 25-30 miles north of Salt Lake City. I think it has the what you're looking for. You can look it up on City Data to get all of the information on it, but I'll go over your criteria.

-low crime
Layton is ranked at a 209 on City Data for crime. That is much lower than the national average. There is not a place in town that I would feel unsafe at night. It is a great town.

-low humidity
I think that anywhere you go in Utah or most of the lower western states you will have low humidity. You say you would like it to be below 40%. The only time that we have humidity above 40% is during the late fall to early spring. This entire time the temperature is so much cooler, that you don't even notice the humidity. Once the temperatures get warm enough for the humidity to be a factor, the percentage is next to nothing.

-not too much snow
Well, we get snow, but it comes and goes. It rarely lasts for longer than a week. We might get dumped on, but it doesn't stay long. The graph on City Data makes it look much worse than it is. The past few winters have been very mild. Most of the snow that we have here is up in the higher elevations.

-no really sever weather
We have almost no tornados. They do happen, but I've yet to actually witness one and I've lived here for 14 years. The largest one I've heard of since moving here hit the Delta Center in downtown SLC. It was only an F2. Nothing like the monsters you get on the plains. We have the occasional thunderstorm, but they don't cause much, if any, damage. As for snowfall, you can refer to my comments above.

-near a college and elementary school
Weber State University is located in Ogden (about 15 minutes north). The University of Utah is located in SLC (about 30 minutes south). BYU is located in Provo (not sure how much farther this is than SLC, but it is farther). Then there is Utah State in Logan (about 45 minutes north). There is also the DATC (Davis Applied Technology Center) in Kaysville which is about 3 miles south of Layton. There are quite a few options in the area of colleges.

As for elementary schools, they are everywhere. You can't go more than 1-2miles without seeing another one, so that should not be a problem.

-no flooding
I've never seen any flooding like what was on the news this past summer in the plains (Iowa and Missouri). We don't have anything like that here. You have to be careful in some homes if they sit at the bottom of a hill as they will get a large amount of the moisture that flows down from the mountains when the winter snows melt. Other than that, there is not much flooding here.

-possibly a nice small town near a big town
Layton is probably not considered a "small town". More medium-sized I guess. It is big enough to have anything you would need. There are multiple grocery stores and many restaurants, etc. If you end up working in SLC, it is only a 30-45 minute commute depending on time-of-day. Really, the whole area between Ogden and SLC is built up so that you don't notice when you are leaving one town's city limits and entering the next. Layton is right between the two. The actual population of Layton is somewhere around 63,000.

-Shopping Centers
Layton has a mall that offers quite a bit. There is also Target, Super Wal-Mart, and ShopKo. For restaurants, there are a ton. Mostly well-known chains such as Applebees, Chilis, Olive Garden, Famous Daves, Lone Star Steakhouse, Outback Steakhouse etc. SLC has more of the up-scale restaurants.

I hope I gave you all of the information you are looking for. If you have any questions about Layton, I'd be glad to help you out!

[eggalegga]

-low crime Stay away from Rose Park/Glendale area of Salt Lake. I will generalize again by saying that the smaller towns outside of the wasatch front, might be your best bet. The wasatch front consists of the towns between Ogden and Provo. There are three sections to the Wasatch Front: Salt Lake Valley, Utah Valley and the Davis-Weber Ogden-Clearfield region north of Salt Lake.

-low humidity (below 40%) This is the whole state.

-not too much snow
-no really severe weather (F3-F5 tornado, huge snowstorms) I don't know what you mean by huge, but if you mean more than say 10 inches, I would recommend you stay away from northern Utah. But then again, anywhere along the wasatch front could get such a storm. Towns in southern Utah would be best to avoid snow. Southern Utah gets extremely hot (100+ degrees) in the summer months.

-near a college & elementary school Here's a link listing the various colleges. I would say find a college you want and the rest will fall into place. I'm pretty sure that where there's a college, there's also an elementary school.

-no flooding Southern Utah has experienced some flooding in recent years. Also areas along mountain benches and canyons.

-possibly a nice small town near a big town I think finding a town with a college will help you and your family to narrow down your list of towns to choose from.

-shopping centers I would say all but extremely rural areas should have some form of shopping available. Depends on if you want an upscale mall or Wal-Mart type shopping.

[kaytidid]

Hum...generally for the size that Utah is, the crime rate is pretty low. If you stay suburban rather than in Salt Lake itself, it really isn't bad at all. I live in Tooele County (about 40 miles west of Salt Lake) and we have the occasional violent crime. There are robberies, theft, ect, but you aren't going to find a city without ANY crime, so all in all, not too bad.

Utah as a whole has a low humidity rate. It hovers around 15-20 percent. Today's humidity is 19%. That is why Utah has "the greatest snow on earth". It is a dry, fluffy, skier's dream type of snow.

Unless you move to Southern Utah, you are taking your chances with the snow amounts. Some winters are worse than others. Obviously, mountain areas (Park City, Heber, Midway, east bench addresses) are going to get more snow than other areas. It usually melts pretty quickly though. You just have to deal with the drivers that think it isn't supposed to snow in Utah and haven't a clue how to drive in it.

Near a college and elementary school. Elementary schools are everywhere you turn in Utah. You needn't worry about having one in any neighborhood. How near a college would you like? There is the University in Salt Lake. Awesome school and it takes me about 40 minutes to drive there from my house.

I have lived here for 13 years and haven't had any flooding at my house. There are homes that have though. Sometimes the snow melts quickly and we get some heavy rains, and guess what?? Yep...your basement/house gets flooded. I can only tell you to research and research again before you decide to buy a home.

There are lots of small towns near a big town (Salt Lake). It really depends on the type of lifestyle you are looking for. More hip and urban? Laid back and country like? Do you prefer to go clubbing or kicking back at home?

Shopping centers are abound here. We have the Gateway downtown, Southtowne mall in Sandy, Jordan Landing in West Jordan, Jordan Commons in Sandy. Downtown is undergoing a major renovation right now. I am not sure when it is scheduled to be finished (anyone?). Should be some decent shopping there when it is finished.

Utah is a great place to live. I will admit, though, I moved from NJ and it did take some getting used to. Now, I don't think I would want to be anyplace else.

I personally would not want to live in the Glendale, Rosepark or South Salt Lake area. That is just a personal preference, however. Many people do and are happy there.

Good luck!

[maria g]

Best towns with diversity Sandy and Park City if you like the mountains. Jordan for better real estate, office parks and more LDS.

[thompson84606]

Originally Posted by goldpolkadots

Hello
For the past year or so, my family and I have been preparing to move to a new state. We currently live in northern Indiana and cannot stand living in this horrible location any longer.

Because we have never traveled out west, I was hoping someone might recommend a town, or at least a general area of Utah that might suit our needs and wants. Some things we are looking for include:
-low crime
-low humidity (below 40%)
-not too much snow
-no really severe weather (F3-F5 tornado, huge snowstorms)
-near a college & elementary school
-no flooding
-possibly a nice small town near a big town
-shopping centers

I know this is a lot to ask for, but we were wondering if there is any area in Utah that meets all/most/some of these things.

Any feedback as to nice places to live in Utah or even places to stay away from is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

As much as I can't stand the place, you just described St. George. Low crime when compared to 80% of America, no humidity, no snow, no weather, Dixie State College which will soon be University of Utah, St. George and SUU, plenty of schools being built, flooding once every 25 years, 1.5hrs to Las Vegas, new expansion to the mall and shopping growing all the time. I would recommend visiting first for a week at least to meet people, check out housing cost vs. pay, experience the boredom of southern Utah (unless you hike and ride ATVs), oh and did I mention cost of living vs. pay? Cost of living vs. pay(just to make sure). It's best to come in summer to make sure 115 is okay with you because if you come when it's 60 in January you'll be mislead, it's 100 degrees from May to September. Good luck, a lot of people like it down here, I prefer northern Utah myself.

[goldpolkadots]

Thank you all for the fabulous help!
Take care ^^

[golightlygirl]

I grew up in Indiana. I now live in Saint George. This place is great as long as you have a sense of humor. Theres lots to do here, especially with Vegas and Mesquite down the road. There are a lot of cultural events, art galleries and good restaurants. The shopping is lame, but not as bad as everyone makes out. It does get hot here, but with the low humidity I find it tolerable. Lots of beautiful views and vistas. Although some on this site have complained about the LDS church, (this is when you need humor) I have found them to be good neighbors and nice people. It is a different feel here though because of the church. But if you focus on that, you miss the beauty that surrounds you. I too recommend visiting here before deciding on a move. As far as crime, I leave my keys in the car at most places and we hardly ever lock our doors. Good luck!

[goldpolkadots]

Thank you for all of the responses so far.
To answer a previous question, I am looking to buy a 3 bedroom home, for at most, $130,000.

Also, temperatures in the 100's won't be a problem, as long as the humidity is low.

[kaytidid]

Would this be a townhome or single family home? You would be hardpressed to find a single family home in the 130K range. I know that there is housing in that price range, it just depends on how picky you are about the type, age and location. Try Utah Real Estate - Your One Stop Source for Searching Real Estate in Utah with your parameters and see what you can come up with. However, Utah does usually have a lower escrow than most states because of the lower property taxes, so that might help to offset any higher home prices. Only a few years ago, you could buy a very nice starter home for 130K, but not so much anymore.

Try Tooele County though, as we have lower housing prices than the Salt Lake area.

Good luck in your search!