Traverse Mountain? (Provo, Draper, Highland: rentals, HOA, house)

[bran100]

We're looking to relocate to the area from out of state and really love the Highland Trails area, but haven't had any luck finding a rental home there yet. Same goes for Alpine. I'm not sure of the best resources to look at, but we tend to spend most of our time on Craiglist looking for a newer 4+ bedroom.

Anyway, there's always abundant homes on Traverse Mountain, and they are brand new and relatively cheap. What's the deal? We are a family of 5 and am looking for a good elementary school for our 3 girls. We also liked Draper, up against the mountain; until I just noticed many of the schools have a year-round schedule, and that really sounds horrible.

Where else online should we be looking for rental properties? Traverse Mountain - good or bad? I heard the wind is bad?

Thanks

[jhwest]

I don't know anyone who lives in Travis Mtn, so all I can judge is by looks. Probably the ugliest area along the Wasatch front. No trees whatsoever. Just brown, brown and more brown. That being said, it's an excellent location. Half hour to SLC and Provo. Great freeway access. They are building a gignormous mall in between Traverse and Alpine (at least that's the rumor). That can be good or bad, depending on your opinions. There are a ton of kids in Traverse. Mostly younger (under 12 yrs), so that would be great for your girls. Schools are good but crowded, since the school district is trying to keep up with the growing pains. Year round is a decent solution. I personally love it. It generally runs six weeks on, two or three weeks off, with a six week break in the summer. The regular school year can be really gruelling in it's day-after-dayness. I'd much rather have little breaks all year long. It's also awesome for vacationing. You don't get stuck travelling during the same holidays as everone else in the country. Nothing like the emptiness of Disneyland in October or february! Just about every school district is year-round on the Wasatch front. There is also a track that is more traditional with the longer summer break. Until you have kids in middle school (which starts here in 7th grade, by the way), year round is pretty nice, just takes some getting used to. (middle and high school are on the traditional year-round).
My sister is a realtor and she was just telling me about the record number of forclosures going on in Traverse. Try looking on KSL.com, which people advertise on more than craigs list.
By the way, Traverse is really windy. I think Draper is too, though.

[rls]

We just moved here a few weeks ago. The only thing I found about the Travers Mountain home was alot of them were small. I liked the area! We moved to Cedar Hills in a rental and I have been very happy. You can send me a Private Message if you would like more info. Where are you coming from?

[bran100]

What's Cedar Hills like? There are so many opinions/rumors about the different areas out there, it's hard to figure out which are true.

So, we've heard that Cedar Hills is "sinking" and the community is a more conservative LDS. We're not LDS (coming from Louisiana) so we want to be in as diverse of a community as we can find. Our initial visit to the Northern Utah County area showed us that everyone is very nice, we'd just hate to be in a 100% LDS community where we are the only black sheep.

As far as the "sinking" is concerned, I find that hard to believe, but nevertheless, it's one of those rumors we've heard.

[funutahgirl]

my 2 cents-
Traverse mountain and Draper are the areas that are 'sinking' they are build on sand.
that is why it is called sand Mountain.

However- yes, Cedar hills is predominantly LDS- you will have less of that in Draper. But Cedar Hills is built on rocky sturdy soil in contrast to the sandy hills North
I have never rented and I cannot tell you where you will find rentals.

[chazcrew]

Cedar Hills isn't sinking, although there was a landslide in one spot up on the bench. Don't live up there and you'll be fine. I'm in Cedar Hills, and I love it, but I will admit that I have very few non-LDS neighbors, so if that's a concern for you, then it really is something to consider. I think Draper is a great city, as well. Traverse is very convenient, but being right at the point of the mountain like it is, it's more exposed to the wind and weather than the communities farther back. It's an easy drive to many areas in both Salt Lake and Utah Counties, though, being so close to the freeway and at the midpoint.

[shrubber]

I've lived up at Traverse Mountain for about a year now, and I love it there. I think other areas may be better as far as parks, schools, etc, but those things are planned for at TM, so I doubt it will lag behind much longer. Alpine School District purchased land for an elementary school right in the middle of the development. There's also a Challenger Private School going in. The developer has also committed to build tennis courts, swimming pools, and a few other parks. While it is common for promised amenities to fall through, in this case the city council told them additional construction approvals will only happen as progress is made on those amenities. Also, the HOA rules, while sometimes annoying, really help to keep the area nice.

The location couldn't be better. I can get right on the freeway and be either in Salt Lake or Provo in about 20 minutes (22 to get to my work). That is really good considering the distance traveled. Alpine, Highland, and Cedar Hills all suffer from really poor freeway access and over crowed roads trying to get to the freeway. The views are also amazing from almost the entire TM development with views of the mountains, and Utah Lake. It is somewhat windy up there, but I actually prefer it that way. For almost half of the year I can crack some windows at night and get a nice cool breeze through the house.

Anyways, if you really are interested in the Traverse Mountain area, there is resident driven website, Traverse Mountain Community -, with a lot of information (both good and bad) about the area on it.

[stringer bassfish]

I lived in Baton Rouge for 8 years. I am not looking to cause any issues, but we moved to Highland 2 years ago with 3 girls. This is from an outsider looking in. Although everyone is very friendly, it has been a very poor lifestyle relative to having real freinds. In a nutshell we have none and if you ever met me you'd find that hard to believe... This area is 93-97% LDS and is in fact the 2nd largest by population of LDS in the nation. There are people who have told their children to not play with our children, do not come in the house because we have crosses and drink wine. We had a person selling these "Living Scripture DVD's and when we told him we were not LDS, he actually stood back and looked at my house and said. "well this is so nice I just assumed you were LDS.." No one will go out with my daughters because they are not LDS....but here is the rub..the folks do not know what they are doing. Everyone is the same so to them it is natural and normal. My children have at least 8 Book of Mormon's given to them even though everyone knows we are not converting. The school system is why we moved out here (and the beauty). But the school system is basically a Mormon run school. There are these seminary buildings right next to all the schools (at least the High Schools) but convienetly seperated so there is no church state issues. The dress code in a public school is exactly the code of the LDS church. I could go on and on. Trust me...I have lived in Japan where the kids attended a school with 57 nationalities, Peru, Alabama, Georgia along with my children (Honor Students by the way) and this has been by far the most difficult transition we have ever made. Having said that, I will say that this is also the safest, cleanest honest place I have lived too....The office I run and the people I work with are fantastic. Business wise its great! I just think the issue is people in this part of the city live in a bubble and they just assume the world is like them too...good luck...