It would seem that I have lost the battle to stay in Washington, in my nice house, half of which was built by me, surrounded by a fence built by me (I've had people come to the door and ask who the builder is, so they could have him build theirs), re-wired by me, seismic retrofitted by me. I was under the impression that it was my/our forever home. Yet, we are apparently moving to Utah, since I have two daughters and one son living there, and I was solidly voted down. So... I need to find a place to live either in central Utah, or in central-eastern Utah. Somewhere that is not one of those sorry and piss-poor new developments. Somewhere in south Utah County, maybe.

I know so little about Utah now. I make it a point not to go there. Yes, yes, the shopping is better, I know that. And I hate Utah's infantilized Mormon population. Maybe you could help me by giving me some ideas and counsel:

- Know any good towns with an old downtown and older houses?
- Are there any ex-Mormon groups that meet regularly?
- I've got my coffee klatsch of old guys; is it easy enough to find one there? (This is actually pretty important.)
- Do they sell wine and beer there?
- Ideas, anyone?

I'm dead serious here. I don't hunt, fish, or farm, so much of Utah doesn't apply to me. Yeah, the scenery is beautiful. But have you ever seen the Cascades, or the Pacific coast of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia? Also, lion's share of the population is progressive and not that religious. I think that there are more healthy people here than in Utah. They will have to dispatch some medical professionals to pull me kicking and screaming out of my house and into the car. I really feel out-manoeuvered. This is just too sad to think about.

Two ways, off the top of my head, to stay in your home:

1)  Divorce

2)  Polygamy

3) Polyandry

A general overview

South Utah county is an area growing so will have newer development.

Central Utah - Sanpete and Sevier counties do not have as much modern growth. They will have older homes (some ~100 years old) and an older downtown area.

The larger cities - Richfield, Ephraom, Manti, Mt. Pleasant - all have about 5-8 thousand residents. Smaller towns may have only a few hundred people, and thus very little commercial properties.

That area is heavily mormon. Both Ephraim and Manti now have temples. Ephraim does have a Jr. College.

Not sure what you mean by East Central Utah.

Carbon and Emery counties are mostly small towns except price. Price will have a more modern downtown being on the main highway, but most residential areas will be older. The other towns will have smaller, older downtowns and residential areas.i

Helper is an interesting place. It was a railroad town, and started to die when the trains no longer needed helper engines
(hence the name). It is now starting to become an arts community

https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/2019/08/11/helper-is-becoming-an/

Emery county is all small towns with mostly older buildings and limited commercial options. The economy is dependent on coal and power generation.

It is also heavily mormon. Politics is quite conservative in both of the areas mentioned above. For any level of progressive politics south of SLC, you would need to go to Moab, but Moab has a serious housing shortage and thus is very expensive.

The best advice I can give tyou is to look at a map of Utah, and then use google streetview to see what it looks like. That can give you an idea of what the age of the buildings, and also see what types of businesses are there.

Good luck with your search.

I lived in Taylorsville and Clearfield for a short time, the fear - anxiety mentality there will never allow an escape from Mormonism there, the GAs consider Utah their home territory (ever Since Johnston's army was dispatched there); I don't know if that fear/mentality is currently at play formally or informally.

The Us vs. Them mindset has been worsened by nationwide political polarization.

Wherever you land, there will be Utah government to contend with in sometimes covert, sometimes overt ways. My progessive friends in Utah tell me the legislature is a real piece of work...

I had a long-term friend who worked at the IRS in Ogden and took crap for that from 'good mormons'.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2024 12:00AM by GNPE.

where are the People or employment that are attracting you?

I think those are the keys to your problem

Thanks! Some great information here.

Old houses ? The "avenues" area of Salt Lake ?

Upper avenues has a view that is stunning. But the real estate will drain your bank account unless you have a few million on hand to buy and then maintain, along with the property taxes. Lower avenues has the same issue of poor roads, and SLC bureaucracy and fee happiness. Some homes in that area are protected since they can be well over one hundred years old, and if you remodel you have to stick with historical preservation rules.

The higher the elevation the higher the price.

Largest Metro area of Utah is along the Wasatch Front. From North Ogden to Springville. Stay out of Utah County, it will drive you nuts, its Ultra Mormon Central..

Stay out of Salt Lake City IMO, it is more likely what you are looking for, but its roads are bad and the city is poorly managed with fees and taxes up the wazoo. They have turned lots of downtown into bike paths (which is fine), but it sucks if you are a motorist. Older areas of Salt Lake is in Rose Park, you do not want to be there at night. Downtown Salt Lake is overrun with the homeless.

There is the Holiday and Sandy area along the mountain side, homes are from the 1930 to 1970 era, lots of opportunity to improve. Land in scarce, so housing is high. Traffic will give you heartburn on some days.

You can live further out in Tooele County, round the other side of the Oquirrh Mountain range. It is more earthy, has its Utah Rednecks, but it is just 35 Miles out of the SLC metro area. You can find up to 3 arce lots in the area if you want space, or buy a smaller lot and build away to your hearts content. However, water is an issue, so keep that in mind. Also, all the sports and big entertainment venues reside along the Wasatch Front.

Moving further out about 1 to 3 hours in Central Utah is perhaps Nephi or Delta, but they are small and rely upon lots of freeway traffic. Not many job opportunites, but if you want to find less people and open space you go that way. If you go further up north you hit colder and longer winter seasons. Less people. more farming, cattle, and dairies.

Look up where the temples are located, and cross out a 5 mile boundry around them, and you will find less Mormon concentration. There are lots of nice coffee places no matter where you go, you will find the group you are looking for.

I live dead center in downtown SLC and like it just fine. Not sure what planet the poster above me is living on.

There are older neighborhoods scattered around the SL valley, but that doesn’t sound where cludgie wants to be. I second avoiding Utah County.

Sanpete County has a fair number of older homes, and a pretty active arts community, mostly because the land was cheap. I’m not sure if that is still true. So, there are non-Mormons there, but Sanpete County is still very Mormon.

I’d recommend Price and its near neighbor, Helper. Price is blue-collar town, mining and transportation. It has a Tech college, so there is a professorial population, a decent hospital, it used to be a strong union town, and still has some political diversity, but not much anymore. A lot of Greeks settled there for the mining, so some interesting ethnic restaurants. Its big boom days were 100 to 130 years ago, so should be plenty of older homes and neighborhoods.

The cliffs and canyons near Price are jaw-dropping.

However, it is a pretty good drive to Utah County, and anything else near the Wasatch Front. If your daughters are on the Wasatch Front, it’s a long drive, and Soldier Summit is occasionally treacherous in the winter, and parts of US 6 are 2 lane, so passing trucks can be Russian roulette.

I work downtown and deal with the city often, plus all the other things others do not see. Like how the homeless infiltrate your business and cause all kinds of situations and numerous visits from the police. Oft times we have to hire the police to be around during large events.

So I see things you do not. I can get things done 100% faster when I am not dealing with Salt Lake City.

I don’t think you’re going to end up staying in Utah if you go.

IIRC, this house and its location has been a dream of yours and something you looked forward to in retirement.

If you buy an old house in utah and fix it up, what happens when you’re done working on it, or are tired or too old to work on it, and you have nothing left to do?

Unless you’re moving within a reasonable drive of your kids, it’s best to stay where you’re happy and visit.

Buy a small condo with zero maintenance and visit. Those that want to stay there can and you stay in the house and area you love.

Or we run away to Northern Italy. :)

That was going to be my suggestion.

Or...

Let the wife go to Utah when she wants and she can stay with the kids. He can stay in WA and take care of the house.

The kids and wife will get sick of each other being underfoot, and the wife will be glad they kept the house in WA. ;-)

And just because you live close by doesn't mean that your kids and grandkids will make substantially more time for you than they would during periodic visits.

OTOH, as you age, it might be desirable to live close to at least one of your children.

So happy that you mentioned northern Italy, some of the most livable areas of the world.

Yeah. You're right. Ivet made my feelings known, and counted to three.

I have five grown kids, the oldest approaching 50 years old. My older son went on a mission, but immediately left the church afterwards. My younger daughter is married to a very laid back Army chaplain who's a major and who is desperate to retire. He wanted to retire in the Pacific Northwest, but the rest of his family are in Utah, which is complicated because my daughter and one of his sisters are best friends of our daughter, plus his parents live in Utah. Similarly, my older daughter is married to a retired UHP, and he he did all his duty in eastern Utah. He moved here and moved into our daughter's place. He loves everything except for the rain and wind and accompanied by much gloom. He lost his job with GEICO in that 2,000+ person layoff that made so much news. He hasn't been able to find another job here, but keeps getting offers in Utah. I have one son in NYC. He has a brain tumor and doesn't want to leave. His twin loves im Seattle and doesn't want to leave. So... What does this banal and boring message teach anyone? Only that it's complicated.

You left out a few things:
-How did your kids end up in Utah? Are they Mormon?
-Is your wife Mormon?
-Are you retired?

From my point of view:
-Don't immediately buy a home, maybe rent for a while until you find area you like.
-As Summer posted, you may not get as much time with kids/Grandkids as you think.
-You mention you thought it was a forever house and you got out voted. From my limited math skills, I think you have a vote and your wife has a vote, sounds like a tie to me.

I think you have other issues that need to be resolved.

Yeah, I retired in 2017, and we moved here, to DW's hometown. I think that renting is out, because in Utah renting is significantly more expensive.

If you live in Draper then you can be near In & Out Burger and get one of those bumper stickers that you can modify to say In & Out urge.