Another California Family Contemplating Utah! (Ogden, Logan: real estate, rent, how much)

[quiltnmt]

My husband and I (56 and 51) non-LDS are considering selling SoCal home and moving to Salt Lake area (north, perhaps Ogden or thereabouts?). We are interested in about 5 acres, either a very old home (100 years+ with or without resident ghost!! ) or a very new one. We wish to eventually perhaps have 3-4 alpacas - I want to learn to spin . Hubby went to U of U and graduated years ago - now wishes to return and get an MBA at same school, just for kicks....keeps the mind active, etc. I want to work part time to get benefits for us. Have run my own medical transcription service for 26+ years, but now I want to just work in a hospital medical transcription department and let someone else be the boss. We have one adult daughter who is delighted with the idea of following us, having a place of her own (not possible with SoCal rent prices!!) and attending "Dear old Dad's school". Other adult daughter will try to make it in SoCal, but could follow quickly. I've enjoyed reading the threads and have a few questions of my own. I've spent a lot of time on Realtor.com and other sites, having difficulty locating acreage. Is it impossible or cost prohibitive? I'm convinced after reading these posts that this move will be what we make of it - I have always had the utmost respect for those of any faith, and I'm encouraged to see that so many threads are debunking what I had heard years ago about it being hard to be non-LDS in Utah. I'm getting so excited about the beauty I see on some of these websites, being RIGHT OUTSIDE my windows. The hiking possibility sounds like so much fun. Anyway - if anyone has any input as to regions around SLC (preferably north side as I need to make regular visits to Cody,WY to elderly parents) that might have small farms or horse properties that would permit alpacas.....I'd love to hear of them. Any knitting, quilting or spinning groups - would love to hear of them too - I'd like to take advantage of the internet to form some friendships before I ever roll into town!! Thanks for taking the time to read my longwinded post. And thanks for any guidance as to areas we perhaps should look for properties....

[LlasaLost]

Hi, quiltnmt--I'm not too knowlegeable about what you ask but can tell you this: you shouldn't have any trouble finding knitting, quilting, spining, craft-type groups in Utah!
As to property, you might try looking under www.utahrealestate.com as it is a site for Multiple Listings and covers all Utah counties. There are still pieces of land in the areas of Bluffdale, South Jordan, Riverton, etc. which are acerages that allow horses (and wouldn't think that, if horses are allowed, they'd deny alpacas). Of course these areas are in the southern part of the Salt Lake valley and you're looking for more northerly climes, or those closer to WYO so you might want to look in the Heber City area.
Also, while you're husband might remember the weather here, it might be a big change for you and the DD's! In July and August (and often on each side of those months) it can get HOT! And the winters will often drop into the 'teens' or lower. As to snow, the higher the elevation, the deeper the snow. Of course, it depends on where in CA you're coming from, the desert, the beach, or the mountains, and what you're used to as to how you'll view the weather.
Oh, one other thing: while the prices of homes in CA has pretty well tanked in most areas, the prices in Utah are still high. Good luck in your move; it sounds like you'll like it here.

[chazcrew]

I went to Moderator cut: link (they remove realtor links here) and put in a few parameters...max 500K (I have no idea what you're looking to spend) and minimum 3 acres (don't know how much acreage you want), and found quite a few properties in Cache county (where Logan is) and Weber county (where Ogden is). They're not plentiful, but there are some out there. However, finding the house you want, on the acreage you want, in the city you want, could be tricky. But definitely try that website and see if anything strikes you. Just as an example, when you go to that site, plug in MLS # 597986. It's a house built in 2004, on over 8 acres, in Ogden. Going for about 475K. So that gives you an idea, anyway!

As for the quilting, knitting, spinning, my handwork looks like it was done by a three-year-old, so I don't know much about it. But those are big things here, and like Llasa said, it should be fairly easy to find some groups that share your interests. I googled "utah quilt group" and came up with lots of hits, including the Utah Quilt Guild. "utah knitting group" came up with a knitting meetup group in SLC, and "utah spinning" came up with lots of spinning classes at health clubs, lol.

Have fun househunting!

(all in red added by mod)

[coolcats]

Hey Quiltmt:

If your husband is going to the U of U, the commute from up north will be a bit of a bear. Not as bad a CA, probably, but it gets pretty bad.

You might consider living west of Salt Lake in Western SL county or Tooele County. Lots of land out there that's considerably cheaper. I live in far western SL county. Across the street are several 5-acre-ish properties and the people right across have alpacas. Other people have horses and dairy cows etc.

For commuting to the U, the best part is it only takes me 25 minutes (30 in rush hour). I live about a mile off of the 201 freeway and its smooth sailing with few if any traffic slowdowns. I'm also in the U's MBA program right now, so let me know if you have other questions about that. Good luck!

[quiltnmt]

I appreciate all the responses and will definitely check out the sites mentioned! This will be quite an adventure! We plan to visit in March, and hopefully by the end of next year - we will know exactly what we are doing! Again, thank you for your responses and suggestions!

[chazcrew]

Oh for Pete's sake! Sorry. I thought you said USU. I was wondering why you'd want to live in Ogden and commute to Logan, lol. Yeah, if he's going to the U, you have more options. And I didn't even put that addy in as a link, and they still came in and manually removed it. Rats! I hope you saw it before it was removed. I didn't know we couldn't even mention sites that talk about "utah real estate".

[1lost1]

Just an idea for you to consider when you are up here looking around.

[mlb]

Your husband better have a helicopter if he plans on commuting from Ogden to the U of U in Salt Lake.

Traffic is HORRIBLE.

We are formerly from So Cal - moving here in 1990. Boy, have things changed (mostly for the better) here since.

But traffic? Ick.

You might as well move to Cache Valley (lots of farmland there) and go to Utah State in Logan.

[rotpada]

If I were going to live north of SLC and have Alpaca land, I would look in the Morgan area. Google map it and look at direcitons to Cody. Land is less and it is beyond beautiful. It is an easy drive up Weber Canyon. Obviously, if you are up the canyon, you will get more snow, but your alpacas will thank you in the summer. Send an email to Linda at Blue Moon Ranch(www.bluemoonranch.com) and ask her about alpacas. I just interviewed her for a magazine article and she can tell you all about raising alpacas in Utah. She sells breeding stock and has a great love for Utah and alpacas. She moved from Chicago and her husband is from Cali. They are great people.

Other options for land would be Kamas, Oakley, Coalville, and as someone else mentioned Heber Valley. We bought a home in Heber Valley two years ago and the property value has doubled in that time. You could still get in at a decent price, but I would hurry. I drive to SLC everyday and it's not a bad drive.

Good Luck.

[bluemoonalpacas]

Hello,
I just stumbled across this forum and I recognized my information! However , the web site is incorrect. Yes, I do love Utah and of course my alpacas, but if you want to visit the web site it is Blue Moon Ranch with a .net not .com.
I imagine the move has already happened, but wanted the correct information out there anyway.
Linda
Blue Moon Ranch
Woodland Utah