Help me find a neighborhood in SLC (Salt Lake City, Highland: how much, houses)

[amos200]

My family will probably be moving to SLC and I have very little information on neighborhoods. Please help me narrow my choices.

We have 4 children so the house has to be reasonably big (but not huge). Being near good schools is important. We would also like to be near parks and ballfields.

My husband will work at the university, so we would like to be not too far from it.

I HATE new annonamous suburbs. I'd rather have a house in an established central neighborhood. Preferably one in which we can walk to stores and restaurants. I also prefer 2 story houses, but this isn't too important.

Does anyplace fit all these criteria?

[chazcrew]

My friend swears by Sugarhouse, and it sounds like it would fit most of your criteria. Might be worth a look?

[amos200]

I honestly know nothing about SLC. Who, what or where is Sugarhouse? Can you tell me something about it?

[askslc]

Amos-

Here is some background... Salt Lake city is layed out on a grid system. The University of Utah is at about 300 South and 1500 East (that means 3 blocks south of the Mormon Temple and 15 blocks east). Everyone talks using this grid system, so you know how many blocks north or south something is from something else (so 400 south 1600 East would be 1 block south of the university and 1 block east). If you want to stay close to the University, you are going to pay a little more but it is a nice area.

The main question is how much money do you have to spend on a house. I would say the two really nice areas are "the Avenues" (they are little north of 100 South and 700 East) and "Harvard & Yale" (About 1500 South and 1500 East). To give you an idea of pricing here, at the low end for a pretty decent sized house you are probably talking 400K+ and at the high-end you could spend into the 1.5 million+ range.

I live at the East end of SugarHouse (which the previous person mentioned). This is about 1500 East and 1700 South. Sugarhouse is less expensive and you can find homes in the $250-$600K range... although for a larger home you are probably talking $350K. Sugarhouse is about 5 minutes from the U. The nice thing about Sugarhouse is that it has those shops you are talking about. It is a little commercial area with some shops (wild Oats, Ann Taylor, local shops, etc). Not upscale really but still nice. The shops aren't within walking distance of a lot of your nicer places (i.e. Harvard & Yale) but they are close.

In this area there is a HUGE park called Sugarhouse park that is acres and acres big. It would be within 5 minutes of any of the above areas.

If this is more than you want to spend, if you can let us know, we will try to suggest some other areas.

Also, if you are doing an online home search , try the zip codes: 84108, 84105, 84102,84103, 84112.

Again, this may not be exact but hopefully it gives you a start.

-ASKSLC

[amos200]

Thanks so much for the information. It was helpful. We can probably spend around 350,000 to 400K.

Are those zip codes you gave all in the Sugarhouse area?

What about the schools near Sugarhouse?

[askslc]

Amos-

Actually those zips were areas between Sugarhouse and the University. not sure about eh your kids ages, but there are 3 schools in the above area. East High School, Highland high, and Judge (Private). They would all be 5-10 minutest from you.

Another area, that I don't know the name of, is at about 3900S-4500S and I-215. It is close to a high school called Skyline. Things may be a tad more affordable there.

Anyhow, I have to run to dinner, but I will try to leave a little more detail later, or someone else may be able to take over where I left off.

-askslc

[amos200]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

My kids are little at the moment (the oldest is 9) so elementary schools are a primary concern. But it's not too long before middle school is looming. What is the local public elementary like?

[chazcrew]

amos, I don't mean to leave you hanging, I'm just not personally familiar with the schools and things there. I just know my friend loves the "walkability" of the area, the parks, the older homes (not the new cookie cutter ones going up everywhere), etc., so it sounds like somewhere you might want to consider, especially since it's just a short drive to the U. Hopefully someone else will know more particulars.

If you go to wikipedia and look up Salt Lake City, it gives you a pretty decent background in the city, as well as a description of neighborhoods (with some maps) and it might help you get a better feel for where you want to look. You can also look up Sugar House (I followed a link from the SLC page) and it tells you lots more about it.

[askslc]

Amos-

Here is a list of the schools in the Salt Lake City district: http://www.slc.k12.ut.us/schools/ (broken link)

If you start looking farther south, there would be other school districts.

If you keep in mind the grid system, you can tell where each school is going to be in general. If not, one of the mapping apps can show you where they are.

I don't have kids, so I can't speak from personal experience. What you hear, though, is that local schools are underfunded and that class sizes are too big. I am not sure whether that is reality or election year politics (probably a mix of both). Many of the elementary schools are pretty modern, having been built with bond money in the last few years. They say class sizes are usually in the 30s (sometimes you hear low 40s). Your option if you don't like the public schools would be to send them to private schools, as there are a few around.

Back to the house topic... If you're sticking under 400K and you want to be close to the U (The University of Utah), you probably aren't going to find a nice new (or renovated) two story house. Mostly because the style of homes in the area of Sugarhouse weren't two story when they were built back in the 50's. Renovated homes are often two-story, but they cost more. For instance, there is a two story (cap cod style and not renovated) on my block just east of Sugarhouse going for about $450K. The Avenues offers some two stories, where a non-renovated house may be in your range. There are also going to be some options in the 9th and 9th (900 South and 900 East) area which may have some decent two stories at the top of your range.

Again, you may also want to look in the area of 3900-4500 South. There are some nice remodeled homes there and you are still only 15 minutes from the U.

Finally, keep in mind that square footage here can be a little misleading. Finished basements are often calculated in the square footage. So, a 2600 square foot home may have 1400 upstairs and 1200 in the basement.

-askslc

[LlasaLost]

Is there any way you can get out here and look things over? It's almost impossible to get the "lay of the land," so to speak without even seeing it. We try to be helpful here and supply the information we have, but seeing it in your mind and actually seeing it are two very different things---so, just a friendly suggestion: keep open to possible change from what you plan without actually being here.