Moving To Southern Utah--advice Requested: (St. George, Cedar City: lease, house, construction jobs)

[sarahjanevhf]

My family and I are planning on moving to Utah in late June or Early July. We are from Michigan. We have 4 children 18, 10, 7 and 3. We are looking at the St. George area, possibly Kanab?? In my search for the best place for us I.m finding mixed opinions, as well as, listed facts on the net. We are searching for a great place to raise our children, with a terrific school system. We also need to take into consideration that at least for the time being we will need to rent a home rather than buy. We also want to live in a safe area. My husband has done building, carpentry, and steel work- we want to make sure we can find employment for him in the area. I, on the other hand, have been in a variety of careers and wish to only work part-time at whatever I find. I've been checking classified ads for local papers and haven't found a whole lot in the building arena for my husband and am beginning to wonder if this will be a problem for us. Also I have concerns about the schools- I've read on some sights that the schools are great and on others that they are not so hot. My husband lived in Utah as a child and says that we will love it. I believe that we will also but just want to make sure we make a good choice for everyone. I should also mention that we will need to be able to find a good sized home to rent at a very reasonable price, in a safe area. I hope that there are some folks out there who'd be willing to give us some advice on the best area we might find to fit our needs. Our family is getting more excited by the day about our upcoming move to Utah and I really need your input.

[scirocco22]

hi Sarah ...just a few words: I'd concentrate looking in the immediate St. George area if it were me. Kanab is quite a ways away and will definitely not have the job opportunities as you would in St. George or its surrounds. Also you'll have more (and better selection) places to rent there also.

St. George is a great place to raise a family. It has good schools. Only problems is: it's going to be hot in the summer. It's still considered in the desert so plan accordingly.

--'rocco

[sarahjanevhf]

--'rocco,
Thanks much for the info. I do appreciate. I wonder if you have any idea of what elementary schools in st. george would be the best or if all are good? Any ideas on cost of renting in area, which my be lower and such?
Thanks again for your advice!
Sarah

[toby04]

Look at www.thespectrum.com, that is local paper, has online classifieds. Have you thought of Cedar City, it is north of St.George, gets snow, not as hot. I can't say anything about schoolsin SG, but I can tell you Iron County school district is excellent. I have worked 10 years and very impressed with quality. St. George is bigger and has more options. Try Hurricane, "suburb" of St. George. Lots of construction in both.

[scirocco22]

hi again, Sarah. toby has a good suggestion, you might consider Hurricane. I would assume rents are a bit less expensive there.


Good luck.

--'rocco

[Amicusnemesis]

I would recommend staying away from Kanab. It might have some nice scenery and be a little closer to the Grand Canyon and other beautiful areas but I'd guess it's a little too rural for most people. I would assume there's a lot less to rent way out there. If I had to move back to So. Utah and had to rent I'd probably go with Cedar City. St. George itself is rather expensive as well as many of the surrounding communities. Hurricane is better and expanding at an exponential rate so you could probably find a place to rent but it'll be pretty expensive. Other places I'd recommend looking into would be Santa Clara, Washington, and Enoch.

[tumo]

As with all cities there is good and bad. The town itself is predominantly lds which some people enjoy and others feel left-out. It still has a smallish atmosphere with some of the bigger city perks. Very hot in the summer (you learn to avoid the heat) and nice winters. For a town this small there are good cultural, theater & other family oriented entertainment opportunities.

I think the schools are probably better than many larger city situations (less crime, higher teacher ratios, etc) and many people here do care about the students. I don't really think that there are any "bad ones". That being said no place is perfect and some of my friends who have kids in the schools here have had prolems if the kids are ahead or need a lot of extra attention-- but that is more of a teacher by teacher, school by school thing. There are some charter schools (George Washington (grades k-7 I think), Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts) they have different enrollment requirements but they might be worth looking into for you as I have heard good things about both schools. There is also another charter scheduled to be built but I don't know when or where, sorry. Here are links to the others--
http://www.gwacademy.org/Enrollment.html (broken link)
http://www.tuacahnhs.org/

There is a lot of building going on right now all over the valley. Saint George itself is surrounded by several close suburbs/smaller towns (20 minutes or less from downtown) consisting of: Ivins, Kayenta, Santa Clara, Green Valley, Bloomington, Bloomington Hills, Washington, Washington Fields, Green Springs, Coral Canyon. And a little further but still nearby: Hurricane, Leeds, Silver Reef. Cedar City is about 50 freeway minutes (depending on how you drive to the North and much cooler. Cedar has a lot of building going on right now as well, just a smaller population in general. Kanab is about 1.5 hours and rather rural (most of its business comes from tourists passing through on their way to the Grand Canyon. Unless you have actually been there and decided that's where you want to settle I'd look here first and then venture out.

If you are looking for less expensive places to rent Hurricane & Cedar are good bets, although any of the other areas listed may have something decent too. You never know. Cedar can be very rural and there are a few places I wouldn't necessarily want to live (grew up there) so check those out before signing away on a lease. There aren't too many places you have to really worry about safety more than common sense dictates here. Any place on/near Dixie Downs, Washington (the older sections) bears checking before signing long term contracts. There are also some older parts of town that have become run down in the past few years and aren't kept up very nice. Much of it just depends on your expectations and comfort level.

There should be plenty of work in the construction/carpentry business right now. You may consider running an ad in the Pioneer Shopper prior to moving and see if anyone calls, just a thought. Saint George has experienced an unprecedented boom in the past couple of years. They have overbuilt a bit which has slowed the market some over the winter but things are picking up again and bustling right along. Good luck in your move, if you have specific questions post them and I will answer the best I can. Ask whatever you wish.

[tumo]

For an idea on rents and what is availabe check http://www.pioneershopper.com/
BTW Enoch is a 'suburb' of Cedar City, about 10 minutes North.

[mizelle]

Not Kanab. Its a great place to visit. St. George has great schools, and there are little communities all over town: Santa Clara, Ivins, Bloomington Hills, Washington...Hurricane is a smaller community about 30 minutes outside of St. George (its called Hurricane for a reason...when the wind blows, look out!) Cedar City is really nice, they have a GREAT library there and the SUU campus is fabulous. Its more affordable than SG, and there is a pretty good bit of industry up there. SG definitely has more to offer, but Cedar is more affordable. Its snows in Cedar City, too, but rarely down in the George. I'm a transplant myself, and of all the available places to live in the U.S., the St. George area is really just about the best. Good luck!!

[jbkmam]

I came to st george from new england. The schools might look new and pretty from the outside but I have not found one that comes close to what I was used to. I have personally visited every elementary in washington county school district. The best of the worst would be bloomington, santa clara, arrowhead, and horizon. I have no favorites inhigh schools, just to say that as a parent be very invovled in your child's education and class selection and make it clear from day one if college is what your child's goal is. My husband graduated from hurricane high with a 3.6 GPA and never once did anyone talk to him about college. One guidance counselor for 1100 kids!

the school boundaries change yearly (mainly to keep title one money). In 4 years in one house my child changed school 4 times.

As for work construction jobs are easy to come by and if you prove to be a hard dependable worker, in a short time a decent wage can be made. Finding housing is hard. I have tried to find a basic family home with 3 bedrooms and a seperate family and living room with a small yard under 275,000 and it is very hard. Rents run about $1200 and a decent family home you would get in a suburb of provo for 200,000 would be at least double 400,000 or more in st george but the wage is near equal.