Advice about moving to SLC area (Salt Lake City, Sandy: house, neighborhoods, new construction)

[pasadenan5757]

Hello,

My husband is interviewing with a company in SLC, and we are planning a trip to check out the area to determine if it is a good fit. I have a few questions that will hopefully help our decision making process.

I’m from Montana and some of my best friends from high school were LDS. I think that they were some of the kindest people and had no issues as long as they respected that I wasn’t interested in converting. That being said, they were in the minority in my city and really had no choice other than to branch out and befriend people outside of the church. Moving to a place like SLC makes me concerned, especially since we have a school-aged daughter, as I could see it being an issue with her making friends/feeling like an outcast. I have read through various threads about this, but some of them were older. I’m hoping to get more insight on what people’s experiences are (specifically with raising non-LDS kids in SLC).

Im also hoping that people can suggest some areas to look for homes when we visit. My husband will be working downtown, but doesn’t mind commuting up to about 45 minutes. Our top priorities are fantastic schools, lots of young families, safe, accepting of non-LDS people, and ideally above the inversion. So far people have suggested Jeremy Ranch, but I was wondering if anyone had other ideas. We would prefer to stay under $850K but would be willing to stretch our budget if a place checked all of our boxes.

Thank you so much for your input!

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by pasadenan5757

Hello,

My husband is interviewing with a company in SLC, and we are planning a trip to check out the area to determine if it is a good fit. I have a few questions that will hopefully help our decision making process.

I’m from Montana and some of my best friends from high school were LDS. I think that they were some of the kindest people and had no issues as long as they respected that I wasn’t interested in converting. That being said, they were in the minority in my city and really had no choice other than to branch out and befriend people outside of the church. Moving to a place like SLC makes me concerned, especially since we have a school-aged daughter, as I could see it being an issue with her making friends/feeling like an outcast. I have read through various threads about this, but some of them were older. I’m hoping to get more insight on what people’s experiences are (specifically with raising non-LDS kids in SLC).

Im also hoping that people can suggest some areas to look for homes when we visit. My husband will be working downtown, but doesn’t mind commuting up to about 45 minutes. Our top priorities are fantastic schools, lots of young families, safe, accepting of non-LDS people, and ideally above the inversion. So far people have suggested Jeremy Ranch, but I was wondering if anyone had other ideas. We would prefer to stay under $850K but would be willing to stretch our budget if a place checked all of our boxes.

Thank you so much for your input!

With $850K to spend, you've got lots of options. I live in Cottonwood Heights (have done so for 37 years) and absolutely love it. A lot of young families are moving into this area, and many of them are non-LDS. A realtor friend of mine told me that Cottonwood Heights is generally considered by people in the industry to be "non-LDS friendly." Wherever you choose to live in this part of the country, probably 50% of your neighbors are going to be LDS. I was raised LDS in Salt Lake City, and raised my two kids here. I had friends of all religions (and no religion at all) and so did my kids. Religion was never an issue. I'm sure you'll find a wide variety of opinions about this concern, though.

I'm retired, but used to work downtown; my commute was 25 minutes.

You will not escape the inversion in Cottonwood Heights, but it would probably meet all of your other criteria. You'd definitely have to go up as high as Jeremy Ranch in order to do that. Keep in mind that while the inversions can be really nasty, they come and go throughout the winter months. I would not let that factor alone weigh too much on you, as pretty much every Salt Lake City area neighborhood is going to be plagued with this yucky phenomenon. You might also want to consider Holiday, the Upper-Avenues or Federal Heights.

[Coffeequeen]

That PC to SLC would be a horrible commute, have you actually looked that up? 850K will get you something reasonable in the SLC area, but PC area? Even in JR that won't go far. I would try Avenues, Cottonwood Heights. Spend a little time on that commute research. It is no fun in the best of conditions on the downhill IMO. You should probably start with your school search first to pin down your locale.

[SWFL_Native]

I had several coworkers that lived in PC/PB/JR and commuted to our office just west of the airport. Their commute 90% of the time was under 45 min and easy highway driving.

Here is an option in your budget:

https://www.redfin.com/UT/Park-City/.../home/86387594

It is a better school district up there, tolerant of out of staters, free from the inversion, close enough to both PC and SLC to get access to both. IMO it’s me of the best choices depending upon your lifestyle.

[Coffeequeen]

That house is a riot, 3 kitchens, 3 laundry rooms, that is an income property LOL. I wonder if those mods are legal?

[Hiruko]

Originally Posted by coffeequeen

that house is a riot, 3 kitchens, 3 laundry rooms, that is an income property lol. I wonder if those mods are legal?

lol

[pasadenan5757]

Thank you everyone for the input. It looks like Cottonwood Heights would be a great fit. My husband lived in Park City back in the 90's (pre olympics), and his dad said that the commute into SLC was pretty easy at the time. I'm sure things have changed substantially since then.

We are coming to visit next weekend and some family members that are familiar with SLC have suggested Farmington/Kaysville, Layton, Sugar House, Sandy, and Draper. Should we add any of these places to our list of areas to check out? We have family that will be moving to the Ogden area, so I think they were hoping we would move north of SLC to be closer to them.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by pasadenan5757

Thank you everyone for the input. It looks like Cottonwood Heights would be a great fit. My husband lived in Park City back in the 90's (pre olympics), and his dad said that the commute into SLC was pretty easy at the time. I'm sure things have changed substantially since then.

We are coming to visit next weekend and some family members that are familiar with SLC have suggested Farmington/Kaysville, Layton, Sugar House, Sandy, and Draper. Should we add any of these places to our list of areas to check out? We have family that will be moving to the Ogden area, so I think they were hoping we would move north of SLC to be closer to them.

If your kids are school age and you're considering Kaysville, then also consider this:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/11/...ntary-student/

Know also that Draper is very strongly "conservative," to use the local realtor's euphemism. Sandy just slightly less so. Layton is, to my tastes, largely soulless developments studded with strip malls and chains. In fact, same applies to pretty much all of the towns north of SLC. If you spend up to your budget in these places you'll almost certainly end up in 6000+ sq ft McMansion.

With your budget I'd be looking at the Upper Avenues, Foothill and maybe Olympus Cove - all well established, closer to city and related amenities. Also lacking in that cheap, new construction, suburban sprawl atmosphere and ethos. And Ogden realy isn't very far unless your family visitations are on a very, very frequent basis.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by pasadenan5757

Thank you everyone for the input. It looks like Cottonwood Heights would be a great fit. My husband lived in Park City back in the 90's (pre olympics), and his dad said that the commute into SLC was pretty easy at the time. I'm sure things have changed substantially since then.

We are coming to visit next weekend and some family members that are familiar with SLC have suggested Farmington/Kaysville, Layton, Sugar House, Sandy, and Draper. Should we add any of these places to our list of areas to check out? We have family that will be moving to the Ogden area, so I think they were hoping we would move north of SLC to be closer to them.

The commute from Cottonwood Heights to downtown Salt Lake is only about 25 minutes. I probably wouldn't go with Sandy or especially Draper myself, primarily because they're so far to the south end of the valley. Sugar House may be a good option. If you want to move north of Salt Lake, those other places might be worth looking at, but it's hardly like the drive to Ogden is all that far. In addition, a lot of families with kids are moving in to Cottonwood Heights. I grew up in Salt Lake City and have lived in five Salt Lake neighborhoods. Cottonwood Heights has been my favorite by far.

[kavm]

I know there is a lot of love for Cottonwood Heights on this forum and it sometimes feels like Cottonwood Heights is the only worthwhile neighborhood in SLC. When we were looking, we did not find it attractive and it did not make our top 5 list. Doesn't mean that we are right and Katzpur is wrong, just that there is a difference of opinion on it.

I highly recommend that the OP look at Upper Avenues and East Benches, given the budget, etc. [Also suggested by kletter1mann]. These are very nice neighborhoods with much better commute to downtown SLC. We almost bought a place in Olympus Cove for around that budget (a little more) but eventually shied away from the commute to the U of Utah. Ended up in St Mary's in East Benches and also like our neighborhood.