Utah is the Mormon hive. They will be your best friend, as long as they think you might join their tribe. When it becomes clear you won't, then you will be lonly there. They are a clannish bunch.
Utah is the Mormon hive. They will be your best friend, as long as they think you might join their tribe. When it becomes clear you won't, then you will be lonly there. They are a clannish bunch.
Disclaimer: The above is not holy writ. It is just my opinion based on my experience and knowledge. Your mileage may vary.
I have no idea about being there year round. But I used to go there a couple months at a time for work. And I think it really is a wonderful area. Fly into SLC and take a trip to Price ,Utah take a drive around check out Sunnyside. Local people are nice there I believe they will give you an idea of things are.
I lived in Sunnyside as a kid- company-owned coal mining town. I lived in Utah for 32 years- would never go back.
Loren
"Luck don't live out here. Wolves don't kill the unlucky deer; they kill the weak ones..." Jeremy Renner in Wind River
I was born and raised in the Mormon cult and even as Mormons, we didn't like Utah because Utah Mormons seem to think they are better than other Mormons. Kinda funny, actually. (I've since booted the cult to the curb and my life is infinitely improved!) If you go to Salt Lake City and live there, the ratio is about 50/50. If you get outside SLC, such as the area you're talking about, the ratio is closer to 85% to 95% Mormon and that can make it pretty tricky to get used the culture and norms. St. George might be another exception more similar to SLC because it's very close to Las Vegas.
But Southern Utah is beautiful. I grew up in the Northeastern AZ, close to the Four Corners area and I love it up there. Where we lived was about 7,000 feet up but because it was so dry, we didn't get a lot of snow in the winter. It could get just below 0F, though, so cold weather was sometimes an issue. Given the opportunity, I would seriously consider moving back there or to other points near Moab, St. George, Lake Powell, etc.
Most of the rest of what's posted above really matters. Make sure if you buy land that you get grandfathered water rights, otherwise, you'll be severely limited on how much irrigation you can do, even if you drill your own well. Also, if you get those water rights, it will increase the demand on the property if you do decide to sell it later on. The same is almost as true with mineral rights. Make sure you get grandfathered mineral rights but it a lot less important and you may not need to be too hung up on it.
Part of the reason the land out west is so expensive is because a majority of the land is not available to private ownership. Much of it is owned by tribal and federal governments and they aren't giving it up. Much of the privately available land is owned by railroads who have had it for a hundred years or more when the federal government was giving it away to them in order to incentivize them into laying track out west. That's changing a bit as the RR's are more inclined to sell now in order to remain solvent.
All good advice in the posts above. It's a radical change for you so be ready to be very flexible. I'd suggest finding a place out there to rent during the summer for at least a month and see what you think. Figure out what you think is the most appealing based on your on line searches and then test drive it for long enough to matter.
Best of luck to you and let us know how it goes!
--Wag--
"Great genius will always encounter fierce opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein.
[The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze
Hopefully your experience didn't sour you on true Christianity...
My dad grew up as a Lutheran on a farm outside of Rupert, ID. Solid Mormon country. He has some pretty heartbreaking tales of discrimination and prejudice against him and his family by Mormons. Trying to live as a true Christian and a "gentile" in Mormon country can be rough. It's a pretty unforgiving cult to be a victim of.
"Luck don't live out here. Wolves don't kill the unlucky deer; they kill the weak ones..." Jeremy Renner in Wind River
That was a really interesting thread to read through, kinda re-enforced my Love for all you guy's. Didn't know there was so many that felt like I do. The country here is very Beautiful, top to bottom. It's the people that make it ... not so ? The only thing I know about southern Utah is they named Hurricane appropriately, and St. George IS hotter than hell in the summer. Northern end is pretty much gone unless you got lots and lots of money.
Please don't turn this into a Mormon bashing post.
That being said Its not a cult. The difference between a cult and a relgion Is the amount of members.
They now have more active members then the Catholic Church. Yes Active is the key word.
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Understanding the the who, when and how of religions is something that has fascinated me for over six decades. They all have positive and negative aspects to their basic tenets. The members are the ones who put those tenets into practice or discrimination. Here is one of many interesting distribution maps: https://brilliantmaps.com/religion-world-map/ makes for interesting research. BUT one has to live within a society to see if it tolerable to your lifestyle. Try it before you buy it!
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