Seattle to Utah - Advice on towns/neighborhoods Please! (Layton: real estate, house)

[PamC]

Hello there! We are planning a move to Utah in the next year or so and would like some direction on where to start looking for homes. We are not LDS, but have family who are in Roy. We would like to stay within a hour's drive.

We have a large family (kids ages 2-17) and here are our priorities:

- Good, safe schools. Extra curricular activities and Special Education support
- Housing in the 350-400k range, would like a bit of land, but also neighborhoods with lots of kids.
- Commutes are not an issue, but would like family-friendly surroundings and comforts, functionality. Recreation opps, etc.

Any direction would be appreciated! Thanks!

[dojilynn]

Hi, Pam!

Have you checked out Layton, Kaysville, or Syracuse? All are wonderful communities and they are all in the Davis County School District. I have two kids in elementary school there and they are doing great and really enjoy school. I'm not sure about Special Education information, so I will add the link to the district's website.

Davis School District Home Page

Housing prices should not be a problem with the price range you mentioned. If you are looking for some land with it, I would check out Syracuse. There are a lot of newer developments there and it is not as crowded as Layton or Kaysville. There is a lot of farm land out there.

Syracuse itself is not very big, but it is attached to Layton which offers anything you would need. Layton has a mall, many restaurants, and stores like WalMart, Target, Shopko, etc. There are plenty of recreational opportunities in the surrounding areas. The mountains are very close, so there is hiking/camping/skiing available with not much of a drive.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope this information was helpful!

Welcome to Utah!

[lisan23]

I'm going to recommend Cache Valley. It's one of the safest places in the country, and also one of the most affordable. It will be a little under an hour from Roy, so you'll be far enough away that if you don't feel like seeing your family then you have an excuse, but if you do want to see them you can. (I have family all over the state, sometimes it's nice to not live too close to them.)

You won't spend nearly as much on a home as you would farther south, even with land. (I just looked up a house in Mendon - which is farther out from Logan - and it has 7 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4,036 square feet, sits on an acre and is $304,000.) There's a TON of activities for kids in the area. My youngest brother is 17 and is so busy that he's never home. Also, Utah State University is there so once your older kids are out of high school they do have a school nearby.

The only downside to Cache Valley that I can think of is the air quality. It's a much smaller valley than Salt Lake, so we can get a really bad inversion in the winter.

But because it's growing we are getting more shopping and restaurants, and it already has all the necessities.

[carriescott]

We moved here 6 years ago from the View Ridge area, just up from Lake WA...We love the area of Bountiful that we are in. We aren't LDS, but if you have a large family, with kids 2-17, you may appear to be lds...not to worry...you can distinguish yourselves! Take a look on the map..if B'ful is a good place geographically, let me know and i'll give you some more info...Carrie

[Aerorick]

By golly, if this wasn't an open forum I'd swear it's a real estate agent site. If your going to move to Utah please read a few of the Utah posts. While the experiances of the LDS church and it's followers from new folks who have moved here range from one extreme to another. There's a lot of truth in all of them.

[CedarCityUtahRez]

Originally Posted by Aerorick

By golly, if this wasn't an open forum I'd swear it's a real estate agent site. If your going to move to Utah please read a few of the Utah posts. While the experiances of the LDS church and it's followers from new folks who have moved here range from one extreme to another. There's a lot of truth in all of them.

I agree................

[Bridget]

I noticed you mentioned special education and my sister has a daughter with Downs and she loves the school that she goes to in Layton. They bought their house for $380k (3800 sq ft??) and their neighborhood has tons of kids. Send me a direct message if you would like to know more.