Thinking of moving to Utah (Salt Lake City, Provo: ski resorts, fit in, coupon) - (UT) - City-Data Forum

MitchMZ · 07-29-2009, 12:32 AM

My wife and I are in our mid twenties and both of us have a college education. We have no children and are not planning on having any. We are not very religious but have immediate family that are... so a city that is overzealous of faith is a non-issue to us as we keep to ourselves (we are very moderate in our political beliefs). We do not care much at all about bars or clubs. We have two dogs and their quality of life is very important to us; so a dog friendly city would be preferred. We are not concerned about finding wonderful jobs, as the only jobs we can find in the Midwest (or anywhere) at this time are entry-level. We would hope the weather would be slightly better than Des Moines, IA but our primary reasons for moving out West are proximity to great skiing and the mountains (outdoor recreation). We love Colorado for this reason, but the influx of people from California and elsewhere has really made us reconsider wanting to move to Colorado. We have considered Boise, Colorado Springs, Provo, or Salt Lake City on our list of possible alternatives to Iowa. Any further alternatives or input as to how well you think we would fit in would be wonderful. Thank you.

-Mitch

MitchMZ · 07-29-2009, 07:50 AM

I guess to clarify I have a few basic questions. In Salt Lake City, how bad is the air quality when inversions happen? I'm allergic to a lot of the "stuff" we have in Iowa and I'm not sure how those would be with my allergies. Secondly, does your status as a non-LDS worker make it harder for you to find the good jobs/career positions? People have stated this to be true. Thirdly, is SLC and Utah in general dog friendly? Finally, are there any places in the SLC vicinity where location/price of homes are in good balance?

eggalegga · 07-29-2009, 10:10 AM

Not to sound like a broken record but it sounds like the Sugarhouse area of SLC would be a good fit. Maybe the 9th & 9th neighborhood but I think the housing is pretty pricey for the square footage you get. Here's one observation from a visitor.

I wouldn't recommend Provo. I grew up in Orem (one town north of Provo) and as a non religious person, I didn't fit in with the culture in that area. People there are very family oriented and not so much dog oriented.

The air quality is typically at its worst during the inversions during January & February. You can "escape" by heading up to the mountains for some skiing. The air quality at higher elevations is much better.

kwm03160 · 07-29-2009, 02:55 PM

What would be "reasonable" to you for housing? 200K? 250K? "Reasonable" is relative - I don't consider Utah's wages vs. housing costs affordable, but that's just me. Are you OK with a townhome or condo if it was in a good area? What are your careers in? I don't think you will have any religious discrimination when looking for a job. Most workplaces are very conservative, though (I guess it depends on the profession), so I have learned to bite my tongue a lot and "go with the flow."

When the inversions happen in the winter, the air gets very bad. There are a lot of "red burn" days in the winter where you cannot light a fireplace, and those with allergies, illness, etc. are told to stay indoors. The inversions seem to be the worst in December and January, and the mountains don't get the inversions.

I would also stay away from Provo, unless you are LDS. That's not to say you couldn't live there, but it will be harder making friends.

MitchMZ · 07-29-2009, 03:35 PM

Reasonable would be 100,000-200,000 for a decent or nice town home (fairly new) but on the smaller side. In our situation a 2 bedroom town home is more than adequate. My wife has a BA in telecommunications engineering and an MBA. I will have my BA in administration/management/insurance come early next year. We doubt we will be able to find great jobs anywhere, though. Des Moines is supposed to be a great place to find jobs right now, but it is even tough here. People with Master's Degrees are making the same hourly wage as those with no college education.

We love the idea of being so close to world class skiing and such great national parks. However, the wages we have seen do not seem to be very competitive in comparison to the cost of housing. No offense to SLC but Colorado Springs seems to much more competitive in this regard... although proximity to skiing is less than ideal (but still way better than Iowa)! Everyone has told me Utah (especially SLC) is absolutely gorgeous, though! Not many problems with mold I would imagine, right? My wife has developed throat issues when presented with an environment that contains mold; thanks to our last apartment here.

We will be driving through both Colorado and Utah this summer to spend some time and ultimately see if both states would be livable and affordable. We are really trying to plan the move out West well and are hoping to have a decent amount saved up... our only financial obligation at this time is a less than $300 a month car payment

Realistically, we would hope to rent a town home for the first year and then buy, to make sure we like the area. We were hoping to make around $50,000 a year combined income; which is much more than we are making right now. We live fairly simple, no cable, no going out, and we always try to buy in bulk from Costco and cook our own meals.

eggalegga · 07-29-2009, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MitchMZ

...Realistically, we would hope to rent a town home for the first year and then buy, to make sure we like the area.

Good plan. I hope you and your wife enjoy your trip out west.

MitchMZ · 07-29-2009, 10:36 PM

Thank you, we are really looking forward to seeing Salt Lake City and what it has to offer!

MrAnderson · 08-02-2009, 10:38 PM

50,00 year combined? With the degree your wife has, and you will have, I think you'd be able to make well over that in the area.

MitchMZ · 08-03-2009, 09:20 AM

That would be wonderful if we could make more! We just are not expecting much as the job market seems to be terrible in most places right now.

What did scare me a bit were the prices of season passes at the Utah ski resorts... the daily ticket prices are very reasonable but we would like to ski every weekend (or more) during winter if we moved there!

skibarbie · 08-08-2009, 03:43 PM

Being a fellow flatlander, I grew up in Kansas, I know that you will enjoy a lot of great things about Utah. First ones that I can think of are very low relative humidity and less bugs.
I do not suffer from allergies but the 2 other in the house get miserable from lots of tree, pollen and grass stuff floating around. The misery used to be contained to Spring time but this year has been extended to include now!
We did not notice any uptick in problems this past winter with roughly 9 days of bad air-it was our 1st winter in SLC. The previous 16 were in Park City. Interestingly, the whole entry corridor to PC, starting at the Jeremy ranch exit is getting there own little inversion growing.

It is expensive to ski here so you need to get a job at one of the resorts or a ski shop to get around that. If that is not your dream job, most ski areas have early season deals that are going on now. I think that one hitch for you in purchasing a coupon book etc. is that the resorts are getting pretty diligent about making sure you are a "local".
Property tax bill, utility bill, drivers license etc. must be shown. Check out the web site for each one for all of the details including cut off dates for purchasing.
Good luck...