Your thoughts on moving to Utah....

(If I should put this is the Campfire instead please move it.)

My wife and I are desperate to leave California for somewhere that might actually have jobs,18% unemployment where I live, I have been lacking FULL time employment since July 09'. We visit Utah every year and I hunt Utah every year and we know that we love it.

What are every ones thoughts on moving to Utah and what to expect, we would like to be somewhere near larger towns/cities without actually living in a large town. We have been thinking about the South Salt Lake Valley area, south of Provo, out in the country somewhere. But would like to stay within an hour of SLC and the larger towns that have the jobs and be close to an airport. I live to hunt so this is a major consideration also.

Please, everybody chime in on what your thoughts are about what a newcomer to Utah should expect and where would be a good place to live. I have not visited every town in N. Utah so any suggestions on good towns to live in would be great!

Thanks,

Daniel C.
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ridgetop
I live in Grantsville, which is about 35 miles west of Salt Lake. Moved here in 2007. The family and I love it here. It really has the small town feel. Population is about 9,000. There's also a lake that's 3 miles away that holds trout. You can get to the Salt Lake Airport in 30 minutes. To give you ideas on housing prices: A 3,000 sq. foot house on 1/2 to 1 acre is selling in the low 200,000 range. I think the unemployment rate in the Salt Lake area is around 7%.
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Looks like farmland in that area, we like that. What are property taxes like in your county? Here we just paid $3000.00 on a $150,000 house (@@)
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camodup
I love in Smithfield thats about 90 miles north of salt lake, you can find lots of property up here that is really cheap and theres alot of subdivisions going up all over the place, pm me if ya wanna know more
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MuleyMadness
Utah is a great state. Although I'd never move here, to many dad gum Mormons around here. lol

All kidding aside cause I am one, this state is awesome and some of the nicest people you'll ever meet in my humble opinion. Lots of Californians move here and although not all enjoy it, many do. But heck people from CA move everywhere it seems, an unlimited supply of you folks it seems. :)

Okay sorry I'm rambling, I'm in So. Utah (St. George)...not exactly a big city but lots of good hunting for Mule Deer, Elk, Antelope around the city. HOT in the summers, no snow in the winter and I love it here. I think you'd like it here, I didn't pay NEAR that much on taxes on my house and it's similar to your price range.
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Muleymadness,

Originally we had considered southern Utah, somewhere from St. George to Cedar city. Seems like Southern might experience a slower economic recovery than the northern part. How does the job market seem in your area? We would also like to be closer to an airport, we are moving away from ALL of our family and need to be close to one so they can come in and we can go to them.

I know what you mean about californians , last time I was on the 15 north there was almost a caravan of moving trucks leaving the "Golden" state.
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MuleyMadness
Job market is decent here, but the problem is the pay is lower than up North...more people equals more jobs and greater competition...thus more pay. Nice place in the South for sure, I love it. But you might get a better salary up North?
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ridgetop
Here taxes would be about $1,200 - $1,400 for a $150,000 home.
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DeadI
One questions that I have is what do you do for work? That way we can give you a more accurate idea of the jobs in the area.

I love Utah, of course I was born here. The hunting is okay. :-$ Don't plan on drawing a resident LE tag anytime soon.
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I am in construction, project manager for a plumbing company, and my wife is in banking.

I know all about the LE tags, no plans on drawing one of those soon. I enjoy pounding the hills every year with my general archery tag in hand. Also being closer to Wyoming and Colorado would be great.

DeadI,

One of the towns we were looking into was Payson. What do you like or dislike about living there?
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camodup
Theres nothin wrong with Payson
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a_bow_nut
Another option you might want to look at is good ol Heber City. It's up out of the smog of the wasatch front that they are struggling with at this time of year. It's about a forty to fifty minute drive down to the city and the airport is about an hour away depending on the traffic. I haven't looked at the housing market around here but it's way down from what it used to be. The best part is that you are only about ten minutes from the hills.
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NotEnufTags
In last years big game report I noticed that the DWR had closed the state to new Californians. Apparently the state carrying capacity for humanus californicus has already been exceeded. The regional advisory comittees here are discussing what to do about the problem. With wintering habitat being over ran they are discussing issueing tags for californians. No word on weather or not they will be LE or general season. That said I might reconsider Utah as your new home.
lol

Just kidding. I would be in trouble too as I came from California. Utah is a great place to live. I live on the west side of Utah Lake in Utah county. It's and ideal place for access to salt lake county where I work and Utah county where I used to work. I'm within a 40 minute drive of the Provo/Orem and Salt Lake metropolitan areas. The airport is 40 minutes to the north. Home prices are slightly lower than surrounding cities due to the rural area. It's growing fast though. Good luck with your decision.
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Couple things to ask yourself, can you stand the Utah drivers? And are you okay with construction all the time? If you can handle those two things. Then you'll be fine in Utah.
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Second time i've heard mention of "Utah drivers", can you fill me in on this. I cant imagine that it is any worse than around here. And construction all the time, on roads or buildings? Sounds like work to me...
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camodup
Utah drivers are pretty crazy, you gotta experience it to understand. But from what i know from driving other places, is that Utah drives are ALOT more aggressive than anywhere else. Instead of letting you in or waiting for a nice gap, theyll just cut you off. They either drive flippin fast, or flippin slow. Like i said earlier, you gotta experience it to get the full effect. I deal with it every day so im used to it!
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Utah is a right to work state. So you will find a little lower wages than California. Unions don't carry much weight in Utah. Beautiful wide open country, and great people.

The county where I am at my property tax is $890.00 on a property that would appraise right now at around 400 K. Of Course the county's assessed value shows a little more than half that amount.

I have property in California as well and there is no comparison in the in the number of people who have there hand out. California is is just off the charts compared to Utah. And getting worse by the day.

California is really nice but I'm afraid it has seen its better days.

If you come to Utah I,m sure you would be welcome, but please leave the California politics in California. Sorry!
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Huge29
"bigbearhntr" wrote:I am in construction, project manager for a plumbing company, and my wife is in banking.
DeadI,
One of the towns we were looking into was Payson. What do you like or dislike about living there?
 Well, you could not have chosen two worse industries to be in!! Being in banking myself, I may have some leads for you, let me know what wifey does, as for construction--not looking good! Payson, Spanish Fork, Salem, Mapleton, Santaquin--great area! I would eventually like to be in that same area for the exact same reasons that you mention.
As to the drivers-not aggressive (I have been in the DC/Baltimore/Philly area a lot and Calli a lot) it is more of a "I don't care that you want over this is my lane" thing, whereas aggressive would be I plan on you slowing down as I am coming over either way. Not a huge deal when considering that your main motive would be for employment.
Good luck! What is your tie to Utah that leads you to look here (just hunting?)? Just curious.
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I live in Arizona and the large influx of people moving into the state looking for a better deal is creating a problem in itself. We can't meet our budget and will cut services this year just because we don't have the money. I don't know if Utah is experiencing the same difficulties. The U.S. business model is broken right now and until a new method that works is discovered small businesses will continue to fold. I'd love to move too but I what I'm doing now works so I'll stay put. As businesses fail we are actually getting more work for more money. It's getting harder to find suppliers for raw materials and consumables though. One guy I work with has been trying to move but can't sell his house. He's about to take the key to the bank and just leave. Good luck.
Mark
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I Am A project Manager & Commercial Estimator for a Heating & A/C Company I Also live in Payson I Just Retired form An Instructor in the apprintence program I do know a little about the area I was borne & raised in Santaquin it is a wonderfull place there great buys on homes in all of the areas you all have talked about, there is work in the area BUT! this is what seems to be going on, the pay went up to levels I though would be possable in 2007 it almost doubled it was great! but when the Residentual & Multi-Unit Market fell alot of small companys jumped into the commerical market this drove everyone into a panic, there is some good work in the area so it is possable to get a job here just be prepared to take a cut in pay & benny's it half of what you could find on the west coast. There has been some goverment projects just bid they are
Davis Bacon Jobs this will help for a while you will need a licence to work on them, there are alot of things I can tell to there is not enough room on this post for it all if you would like send me a pm I will help you all I can. Old Denny
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We already dont live in the typical high pay city, we are in a very small resort town about 1 hour from larger cities. Pay here is already half of what you would expect to get in San Diego, LA, SF areas where it is mostly driven by what union pay scales out here are, where plumbers and electricians make $50 an hour. So I dont think I will be too shocked by pay.

My wife is an assistant manger at a regional credit union branch.

As far as why Utah, we have been visiting there for years as well as other rocky mtn states, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming. And have decided that Utah is in the best location for us to relocate. Being able to drive easily to southern cal or sacramento to visit family and being able to have them fly in easily to us is big.
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Springville Shooter
I moved to Utah 3 years ago from Northern California. My situation is a little different than most as I had the opportunity to promote and actually make more money than I was in Cali. This coupled with the amount of home you can get for your buck in Utah sold us and we moved. We like it here and will probably stay until the kids are out of school and college. In my opinion there is no better place to raise kids. Most of Utah is way to busy for my taste, but it's livable. We live in Springville and like the community alot. I also like Heber, Payson, Salem, and Santaquin and would live in any of these places. Hope this helps and be prepared to catch a little flack as a California transplant. I too have a couple properties still in the golden state and I'm not ready to get rid of them yet.....especially my lot on beautiful Lake Almanor. I can see that retirement cabin already!!!!----shooter
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Jeff
I live in Davis county my taxes for a $200,000 home were 1200 this year. There is a lot of hunting and fishing not too far form here, I lived in Payson during my High school days and would love to move back down there, but the wife isn't having any of it. As for Californians, well, I know at least one good one, SS.
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Huge29
"bigbearhntr" wrote:My wife is an assistant manger at a regional credit union branch.

As far as why Utah, we have been visiting there for years as well as other rocky mtn states, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming. And have decided that Utah is in the best location for us to relocate. Being able to drive easily to southern cal or sacramento to visit family and being able to have them fly in easily to us is big.
 Sorry, I thought you said BANKing.
Property taxes are typically 0.7% of the home's assessed value (usually a little lower than the real value).
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