Relocators! How do you like Utah so far? (Hurricane, Washington: real estate, 2014)

[mountainfaith]

My family & I love it here. We moved here from the Midwest about 8 mths. ago. Boy did time fly!

We just jumped right in when we moved here and it made it so much easier for us. Our kids are part of a great youth group at our church. And they loved all the fun community sports I signed them up for, too. We've also had some fun home school activities.

We love the weather here, especially how sunny it is. And the very low humidity (10-15%) summer was awesome. Made it feel cooler than it was. What a blessing after the super muggy summers we grew up with. And there's another great weather plus. Even on hot summer days, as soon as the sun starts to go down it cools off fast. So, we'd get to open the windows at night to let in the cool, fresh mountain air. That saves a lot on electricity, too.

BTW, we've had some family come visit and they absolutely loved it here, too. It's been such a blessing for our family.

[Northern Joe]

I'm considering relocating to the Salt Lake area. How much do you need to earn to live comfortably??? What is the real cost of living (utilities, taxes, etc...).

[The Casselli's]

Honestly, I think anywhere while you relocate in the state of Utah you headed for BIG problems with cost of living. Utah wages are a joke and there are so many people that I've met that have 2 jobs in order to make it. Our property taxes increased this year, groceries are expensive and taxed, gas is expensive, utilities are high and medical insurance is "Sicko". The only thing that Utah state has is the beauty and the low key life style but only if you can afford it. Salt Lake wages are just a buck higher but it's all the same. GOOD LUCK!

[jorhyne]

Utah is so beautiful. It is a shame that it is Mormon majority. I could never live in a place like that. Just go to Google earth and select places of worship as one of the layers. Then go to Utah cities and you see one LDS church after another. That's nuts.

[DShattuck]

I am curious. With what you see in the LDS religion directed at your mixed marriage...why do you stay? What do you see that keeps you?

[DShattuck]

Saw you post about the church group your kids are in. What church do you belong to? We are moving to Lehi and looking for a church. I am Episcopalian but the churches there are few and far between it looks like? Thanks

[Blondie-Rabbit]

I just survived a 6 week ordeal of a botched surgery where I nearly died. I come back here to read what has happened in this thread. In fact most of the threads on the Utah board. It starts out with a veiled intent of asking NON LDS people how they like the relocation. then as usual it turns into a lets bash the Mormons. Yes there are instances where fat heads of the Mormon religion (seems there are fat heads in ALL religions) do stupid things. Not all Mormons are like those few. Yes wages here are obscenely low and if research was done before you moved here, you would have found that out. Insurance here is not any better or worse than anywhere else. It just plain comes down to what brought you here in the first place? If it was to cash in on the real estate market, you missed the boat. If it was for life style, you knew what it was before you got here. If it was for the scenery, it hasn't changed. If it was to be closer to family, you got what you wanted. Each of us has different reasons for being here. It is what it is. It's not going to change fast. It will take decades for any change to become part of the culture. To whine that it isn't what you had where you came from is the real problem. No place you move to be it Utah, Mexico or Mars will be like the place you left. If you miss what you had, there is nothing to hold you from moving back to where you came from. YOu might just be happier if you did. that is not meant to put you down, but an observation on what you seem to want. Lastly this is a place that yes has a predominate culture that is based in the LDS faith. To form groups that are the sole purpose of excluding LDS is only perpetuating the problems of not getting along with the prevailing culture. If it were open to all relocators, irregardless of if you are LDS or not, you would be exclusionary. If it were just meant to get a group of people together in an area that all moved from a similar area, then say that.

After my recent ordeal I will say that if I ever have to have surgery again, I will go either to SLC or Vegas. Three doctors and 5 surgeries to fix the initial botched operation, doesn't make me secure in the abilities of the local surgeons abilities.

[BuhByeCalifornia]

Well...we moved here the beginning of August and we absolutely LOVE IT!

We were die-hard Californians and beach-goers who swore up and down we'd never move to Utah even after seeing so many of friends relocate here.

But in 2005 we vacationed in Park City and fell in love with the state. But my dh just started business school so we knew we couldn't relocate then (even though it would have been SO MUCH better for us to SELL our house in Cali in 05!) In 2006, dh had just one more year left of business school so we put our house on the market. We were originally going to buy a home closer to dh's work in LA but our budget (which I THOUGHT was decent) could only afford us a tiny townhome with no yard (this was because it was close to LAX and a beach community). So we re-thought the Utah plan, flew out here the summer of 2006, went to the SL Parade of Homes with a builder and was just floored with what our budget could build us here...even with the plummeting California market and the rising UT housing market a year ago. So we found some land in Davis County and started the build process.

We did this with no job for dh here. The plan was for him to commute back to LA on a weekly basis. Heck, he was already spending 1.5 - 2.0 hours EACH WAY on the fwy...he may as well do it on airplane. But...in January 07, a business school classmate found out we finally sold our house (after a 20% reduction in price - ouch) and that we're moving to UT. He works for a venture capitalist firm in LA and said that they just funded a new start-up in UT and they were looking for someone to head up their finance dept.

It took months and months of interviews but dh actually got the job offer in July - right after his graduation. What's crazy is that he is actually making more money at this job in UT than his previous job in Los Angeles!

So for us, it was the smartest move ever - especially for financial reasons. I know everyone has different perspectives and backgrounds but coming from very pricey and congested Southern California,

-we were floored when our car insurance cost HALF of what it did in Calif.

-We thought our $52 electric bill was missing a zero! (Of course we're renting an 1200 sf duplex right now while our house is being built but seriously in Calif, for our 3200 sf house, our electric bills were close to $600 A MONTH!)

-Babysitting prices are HALF

-Haircuts are about 30% less than what I was paying in Cali

-Dh's commute is seriously about 1/3 the time (35 minutes) he was doing in Calif. for the same distance - and yeah 35 minutes one way is a LONG time for most Utahns as we're finding out but to us, it's a DREAM!

So maybe our situation is a very unique exception. We were told to expect that dh would get a paycut by relocating jobs here but that didn't happen.

I guess I just wanted to post this to let you all know that there are amazing opportunities here as well. Lots of great products and services and businesses come out of Utah and we really think that the state is a diamond in the rough.

Now, we are active LDS. But interestingly in my little duplex neighborhood, there are only 4 active LDS families. I've met lots of people that aren't LDS and love it here just as much.

We don't have family here but we have been welcomed so warmly. We are also a bi-racial family...my dh is Caucasian and I'm of Filipino descent. Certainly there are areas (like Bountiful) that are very Caucasian but I was amazed at how much more diverse other areas are like Layton, Sandy, and SLC. We went to Costco in SLC a couple of weeks ago and we seriously felt like we were back in Southern California since it was very diverse.

We have come here with an open mind and an open heart. We were also told that since Utah LDS congregations (wards) are huge, it would take a while to get acclimated and fit in so we expected that.

But since dh and I are friendly people and are really making a strong effort to have a happy life here, we don't sit around and wait for people to approach us...we reach out, we participate, we get our kids involved, we engage in the community and the lifestyle...and we have a much fuller, richer life because of it.

[motormaker]

Originally Posted by Blondie-Rabbit

I just survived a 6 week ordeal of a botched surgery where I nearly died. I come back here to read what has happened in this thread. In fact most of the threads on the Utah board. It starts out with a veiled intent of asking NON LDS people how they like the relocation. then as usual it turns into a lets bash the Mormons. Yes there are instances where fat heads of the Mormon religion (seems there are fat heads in ALL religions) do stupid things. Not all Mormons are like those few. Yes wages here are obscenely low and if research was done before you moved here, you would have found that out. Insurance here is not any better or worse than anywhere else. It just plain comes down to what brought you here in the first place? If it was to cash in on the real estate market, you missed the boat. If it was for life style, you knew what it was before you got here. If it was for the scenery, it hasn't changed. If it was to be closer to family, you got what you wanted. Each of us has different reasons for being here. It is what it is. It's not going to change fast. It will take decades for any change to become part of the culture. To whine that it isn't what you had where you came from is the real problem. No place you move to be it Utah, Mexico or Mars will be like the place you left. If you miss what you had, there is nothing to hold you from moving back to where you came from. YOu might just be happier if you did. that is not meant to put you down, but an observation on what you seem to want. Lastly this is a place that yes has a predominate culture that is based in the LDS faith. To form groups that are the sole purpose of excluding LDS is only perpetuating the problems of not getting along with the prevailing culture. If it were open to all relocators, irregardless of if you are LDS or not, you would be exclusionary. If it were just meant to get a group of people together in an area that all moved from a similar area, then say that.

After my recent ordeal I will say that if I ever have to have surgery again, I will go either to SLC or Vegas. Three doctors and 5 surgeries to fix the initial botched operation, doesn't make me secure in the abilities of the local surgeons abilities.

Gosh Blondie,
So glad you are OK. I was wondering where you have been. Here's for a speedy recovery.

[dogmom]

Blondie..i am glad you are doing better. I don't have much faith in the medical community here..I need new glasses and eye exam and I am on and off about doing that here... Does sound like you had a living nightmare though and glad you are doing ok.

In response to the non lds 'club' hey it open to anyone..and not all of us are from the same area..but we do have a lot in common. I don't think that any LDS folks would be interested in our lively conversation and occasional beer or glass of wine with dinner...It has definitely helped us make friends, this board has!

And about moving back to where we came from..we're trying..the market is not good right now. And you really don't know an area until you've lived there, no matter how many books, brochures or web sites you visit..And it costs a lot of money to move, that not all of us have a ton of.

We all have our reasons for being here...lets just all get along and on with it..