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Hi my awesome Utah folks, this is going to be a lengthy post so please bear with me,
Scenario: A married couple from FL, looking to buy a vacation home in Utah to spend summers for hiking and winters for snow skiing. Both of us work full time but can get away for about 1 month to 5 weeks a year to enjoy Utah.
Both of us have been many times to SLC and Park City to ski- winter, have visited all NP in Utah in summer to hike. Absolutely love the folks in Utah!
Some facts about us:
Ages: 40 Edyta and 58 Dwayne
Background: No kids. I am originally from Poland and lived in 4 other European countries before moving to US (have never been in the military); in the US have lived in NYC, GA, WI, and now for the longest in Fleming Island, FL. My husband is from Jacksonville, FL and has lived in KY and TN.
Interests: we love the outdoors and colder climates; we dislike the beach unless it is for diving or snorkeling but not baking and just relaxing- we cannot stand it. We love to travel and usually pick the mountains and smaller towns when we do so. We have traveled extensively through Europe, all over Caribbean and Latin America for diving, South America, and the US. We are very active, and we normally hike 10-16 miles at elevation when we do so, we never get tired of the mountains, we both love to ski, especially my husband- he is a dare devil We love open air markets, flowers, and veggies and are very healthy, love any type of live music. I love the gym and Latin dances. Love learning about other cultures. Love boating but hate boating in high humidity and heat.
Work stuff: my husband has owned his own business and has never worked for anyone- his business is what keeps us grounded full- time in FL. I am a lead instructional designer and have worked remotely since 2014. I normally travel all over US for about 10-12 weeks out of the year so need an airport within 2 hr drive when I do travel for work.
Politics- we are both conservative politically but not socially, we stay out of people's business and cherish diversity, we also dislike government mandates ( I experienced communism and the aftermath of it in Eastern Europe and am very vocal about this experience). We both believe that faith is very private and will not engage in faith related talks, we do not go to church but are both Christian.
Other things to consider: my husband loves working with his hands, build things- he can absolutely build anything, he also loves to work on remodeling projects, he loves to ski- he can ski the whole season every day, loves flying, must have a Home Depot nearby and preferably a small airport. I cannot live without a gym and a good dance class. We both hate any type of shopping unless it is in an open air market. We order everything we need online. We are both frugal people, especially me, I like to invest in experiences vs things. We both like the snow, shoveling and all. I come from a city in Poland that gets a lot of snow/harsh winters but that also was named the Cultural capital of Europe.
Our plan- buy a small vacation home in a hiking/ skiing community that would serve as a possible part time retirement destination for my husband and as a part time living quarters for me when the time comes. My husband will probably sell his business within the next 5 years. We are planning on buying another part time property in Argentina or Italy. In 5 years we would be selling our property here in FL for good and never coming back which we are very excited about.
So far I have researched Logan and Ogden and am leaning towards Logan. Budget is 300K and we are looking for at least 1,500 square feet place with open space concept and 2bedrooms/2baths not more. It can even be 1 bedroom 1 bathroom and a work area for my husband. I am open to all of your suggestions. Please help me decide on something that we both can enjoy and be a part of a community in. Thank you all!
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Personally...(as an active early and pre-retiree) I would find a multi-dwelling / living qtr home near your favorite ski area (such as near Wildwood or Huntsville avoiding the pizzazz, crowds and prices of Park City area)
Rent out the larger residence to a very well screened fulltime tenant, and you stay in the smaller living space whenever you can be in UT.
This way there is:
1) always someone home / watching the place
2) a revenue stream to self support this extra home
3) deductible travel and 50% food expense (maintaining property)
4) depreciation (offsetting any income, including your wage or business income
5) very easy to resale (income supporting)
6) less worry / hassle (net zero cash flows, no expense to keep)
7) you have an extra home when needed later (you can switch to staying in larger home if you need or desire to once you relocate to UT, if ever)
We have done this in desirable USA locations. We keep a cheap minivan at each location and fly between them when ever we want. Seasonal, or for holidays.
We offer great perks to our excellent tenants (usually retirees). We travel a lot (including international) and took a one yr RTW trip, and had no problem with any of our several USA homes
We hope to do similar in South America and Italy, France or Spain. Many times rural farms in foreign countries come with multiple homes and a resident caretaker.
Thank you very much! Cedar City looks great Berger12345, you gave me a place to research StealthRabbit, thank you for this idea! I will present it to my husband tonight.
I second the Huntsville recommendation. In fact the entire Ogden Valley (Huntsville, Eden & Liberty). Maybe expand south to Mountain Green and Morgan.
It has the skiing (Powder Mountain & Snowbasin)
Boating on Pineview
Miles and miles of hiking trails
Low humidity
1 hour to SLC Airport
15 - 25 minutes to the city of Ogden
Hi my awesome Utah folks, this is going to be a lengthy post so please bear with me,
Scenario: A married couple from FL, looking to buy a vacation home in Utah to spend summers for hiking and winters for snow skiing. Both of us work full time but can get away for about 1 month to 5 weeks a year to enjoy Utah.
Both of us have been many times to SLC and Park City to ski- winter, have visited all NP in Utah in summer to hike. Absolutely love the folks in Utah!
Some facts about us:
Ages: 40 Edyta and 58 Dwayne
Background: No kids. I am originally from Poland and lived in 4 other European countries before moving to US (have never been in the military); in the US have lived in NYC, GA, WI, and now for the longest in Fleming Island, FL. My husband is from Jacksonville, FL and has lived in KY and TN.
Interests: we love the outdoors and colder climates; we dislike the beach unless it is for diving or snorkeling but not baking and just relaxing- we cannot stand it. We love to travel and usually pick the mountains and smaller towns when we do so. We have traveled extensively through Europe, all over Caribbean and Latin America for diving, South America, and the US. We are very active, and we normally hike 10-16 miles at elevation when we do so, we never get tired of the mountains, we both love to ski, especially my husband- he is a dare devil We love open air markets, flowers, and veggies and are very healthy, love any type of live music. I love the gym and Latin dances. Love learning about other cultures. Love boating but hate boating in high humidity and heat.
Work stuff: my husband has owned his own business and has never worked for anyone- his business is what keeps us grounded full- time in FL. I am a lead instructional designer and have worked remotely since 2014. I normally travel all over US for about 10-12 weeks out of the year so need an airport within 2 hr drive when I do travel for work.
Politics- we are both conservative politically but not socially, we stay out of people's business and cherish diversity, we also dislike government mandates ( I experienced communism and the aftermath of it in Eastern Europe and am very vocal about this experience). We both believe that faith is very private and will not engage in faith related talks, we do not go to church but are both Christian.
Other things to consider: my husband loves working with his hands, build things- he can absolutely build anything, he also loves to work on remodeling projects, he loves to ski- he can ski the whole season every day, loves flying, must have a Home Depot nearby and preferably a small airport. I cannot live without a gym and a good dance class. We both hate any type of shopping unless it is in an open air market. We order everything we need online. We are both frugal people, especially me, I like to invest in experiences vs things. We both like the snow, shoveling and all. I come from a city in Poland that gets a lot of snow/harsh winters but that also was named the Cultural capital of Europe.
Our plan- buy a small vacation home in a hiking/ skiing community that would serve as a possible part time retirement destination for my husband and as a part time living quarters for me when the time comes. My husband will probably sell his business within the next 5 years. We are planning on buying another part time property in Argentina or Italy. In 5 years we would be selling our property here in FL for good and never coming back which we are very excited about.
So far I have researched Logan and Ogden and am leaning towards Logan. Budget is 300K and we are looking for at least 1,500 square feet place with open space concept and 2bedrooms/2baths not more. It can even be 1 bedroom 1 bathroom and a work area for my husband. I am open to all of your suggestions. Please help me decide on something that we both can enjoy and be a part of a community in. Thank you all!
Not much is available in this housing market for $300,000. What is available is likely to be run down and in places you may not want to live. I would consider increasing your budget.
Altajoe and markg91359, thank you for your suggestions. To everyone that responded to this thread. It looks like other than Logan and maybe some areas of Ogden, we really would be hard pressed to find something decent. Ogden Valley is absolutely beautiful, but the houses are bigger and over 800K-1.2mil+. My husband and I spoke last night and we will have to increase our budget even for a small 2bed/2bath property. We even looked into 55+ communities. I really do not know anything about these other than they have HOA fees and folks are older, houses are smaller…my husband is not opposed to that but I do not know how I feel entirely about living in such a community. Opinions? We are planning on visiting maybe in September and locking this in. So, with maybe 400K-425K budget, could someone please recommend areas of Ogden or Logan that are not run down, seedy etc.? I spoke to a builder last night that has built multiple communities in Logan and our budget could not even touch what they had available other than a condo or a townhome and my husband does not want to live on top of others. I guess everyone is somehow moving to Logan, now lol. I already looked into Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Washington and we could not afford anything there either because of the CALI exodus. Someone mentioned NM to me yesterday. My husband was like: “Nope, blue state, not interested, we love UT, just focus on that, we will find something”. My head is spinning . I have slow period at work right now so trying to do my research within the next 5 weeks. Another question I have is this, we were supposed to go on a 3 week trip to hike to Argentina in Dec for our 10th year wedding anniversary but since they are on a complete lockdown, I do not think this will materialize. I was thinking about taking these weeks or maybe at least 2 of them and exploring some Utah areas and deciding on building a home as a gift to ourselves for our anniversary. If we do do that, which areas should we focus on…My husband said that we do not have to live in a huge cosmopolitan area, I think 50K population is great maybe even less than that would be fine. You guys mentioned, Cedar City, looking into that, too.
Last edited by kloos5; 04-21-2021 at 06:58 AM..
Reason: N/A
Have you looked at Garden City? Much smaller population, but shorter drive up to Beaver Creek Ski area. Situated along Bear Lake, so population increases in the summer season. Also Fish Haven, Idaho-you would not know when you go from one to the other except for the signs. It's more like 2 and a half hours to SLC airport, and Logan Canyon might be snowy once in a while during winter. I think you may be able to find a detached for your budget in that area, and, of course, the raspberry scene is big up there.
Another small town prospect near Cedar City could be Parowan for access to Brian Head, or Beaver which isn't far from Eagle Point Ski area. (I don't have a clue about skiing, I'm just familiar with these places) Beaver has a good four-wheeler/ATV culture in the summer, but it is about 45 mins from Cedar, and more than 2 hours to either SLC or Las Vegas airports. St. George airport is slightly less than 2 hours. These towns are less than 50k population by quite a bit, but within an hour of larger towns, Logan or Cedar City.
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. We love to travel and usually pick the mountains and smaller towns when we do so. We have traveled extensively through Europe, all over Caribbean and Latin America for diving, South America, and the US. We are very active, and we normally hike 10-16 miles at elevation when we do so, we never get tired of the mountains, we both love to ski, especially my husband- he is a dare devil
