Looking for a Great Place to Raise a Family

[JaneaC]

Hi

I am from Seattle. The cost of living is very high and my husband's commute is crazy-long. We are looking for a great place to raise our family. One where you can buy a 2000+ square foot, 4 bedroom house for under $350,000. We have done alot of research about various areas, but are always nervous to go to an area we have never ever been to before especially since we want a good solid core of LDS friends for our young children. I am not excited about living in a desert. So where do you live and do you love it? What do you love about it. What is your ward like wher you live? is it big? Why do you think it's a great place to raise a family? Thanks!

[Heckya]

I live in Murray, Utah. I can't tell you much about the ward, but I love the area. My brother lives in South Jordan, Utah and my best friend lives in Draper, Utah. They both love their neighborhoods and wards, have lots of friends, and a good support network. (Although, I think Utah is a little different than other states.) You should be able to find a house for the price you listed. Plus, the job market is still booming in Utah. The housing market has slowed down here, but it hasn't crashed and I don't think they expect it to crash. And best of all, commutes are short. My brother drives from South Jordan to the University of Utah in less than 45 minutes...that is considered a long commute. We just moved from California so I understand house prices and commutes. Murray (suburb of SLC) is just a temporary stop. We are about to move to Vernal, Utah...in fact I am just about to start a thread asking about Vernal since I don't know the area. Hope this helps...but I'm full of Utah pride. I think it is a beautiful state that has more to offer than most people realize.

[havejoy]

I live in Brazoria County, Texas. The cost of living here is very low. The home you describe would sell for about $180,000 around here. We have a great ward and we hang out together a lot. In a city of about 30,000 people we only have about 600 LDS families so we get together for bar-b-ques, we play rook every month and do a ton of other stuff. Of course we invite friends from outside the church too but our church family is very close.

[Winnie G]

Are you looking to stay in the states?

I'm from Michigan but live in the Mormon Bible belt of Canada southern Alberta, Lethbridge aria.

The cost of living is grate, and you could buy a "Nice" house for your price and our health care for us is $300 a year. Wards are large and full of young families.

Alberta is crying for any one that has a oil / gas or infrastructure back ground. UN-employment is low. It is not that hard to come to Canada, and with hand gun bans Canada is low on crime compared to were you live now. I have family there. Lethbridge aria is down right boring when it comes to crime.

[Jbs2763]

I grew up in central Indiana, I love it here, as well as most of the midwest, good farm folk are good people anywhere, cost of living is realtively low here too, as long as you get outside of indy by about 20 miles

[toBdetermined]

Hey JaneaC~

Are you in considering some place specific? Let me tell you - you can probably get a lot of house for that price most anywhere but Seattle!! I grew up in southeast Idaho (Idaho Falls) and although I hated it as a teenager - my parents chose it for exactly the reasons you described. I recently moved back here and I have to admit it is getting better. There is a very strong LDS base here - a church in almost every neighborhood (no exaggeration) and tons of young families (BYU-I is about 25 miles away). We moved back here from Denver - which I loved and would recommend for so many reasons. The cost of living was obviously higher than in Idaho, but depending on the area - still well within your range.

Just keep in mind - you can find the church almost anywhere, and everyone has some type of bias to their own ward. How old are your children? What is the most important factor in choosing your location? I highly recommend going to Stats about all US cities - real estate, relocation info, maps, race, income, photos, education, crime, weather, houses, etc. to gather some more information on places you are considering. Also, if you haven't already, just check out Century21 or Remax online to get an idea of what you will get for your money. In Idaho Falls: new construction, new schools/churches etc. - but as a side note - not a lot of trees (definitely not what you're accustomed to in Seattle)

Let me know if you have any questions :) Good luck!!

[Elgama]

I live in North East of Scotland and I love it although our house prices aren't much better than Seattle and the church is smal, job market is excellent thoughl,. It combines safety and beauty and low pollution, exceptional public services (excellent roads, not bad public transport, good schools, good healthcare). I don't need to lock my front door or the car when in the driveway and the greatest danger to kids is being run over by a car - last child kidnapped or hurt outside of family members was in the 1800s.

Our branch is great right now RS and Priesthood is small we have 4 Young Women, about the same Young Men, and a gazillion in primary and about 8 babies. We have an exceptional branch president and Stake Presidency.

-Charley

[kona0197]

Oregon.

[havejoy]

Pulaski County, Kentucky is a pretty reasonable place to live. The counties surrounding it are even better. My whole family lives there and we're looking at houses and land in that area. The scenery is amazing and the humidity is a whole lot lower than it is where I currently live. I don't know about the church situation though because I'm the only member among my siblings.

[miztrniceguy]

i live in Liberty, MO and our 2600 sq ft 3 bedroom house was 165k, but after 2 yrs it was just appraised at 289k. not bad for a 40 tr old home.

[Gwen]

what kind of employment would your husband be looking for?

[shanstress70]

I have to chime in to say that Raleigh NC is a great place to live. Housing is quite affordable, and you should easily be able to find the house you're looking for in that price range. If your husband is in the Computer Technology or Pharmaceutical field, this is the place to be. As far as LDS church members go, there are lots, and most of them are from Utah. Not many native NC'ers are LDS. I'm no longer LDS, but used to attend the LDS church here in Raleigh.

The things I like most about living here? The beach is two hours away, while the mountains are 3 hours away. There are many parks and greenway systems for bicycling. The schools are excellent with many choices of public, magnet, charter, or private options. There are colleges galore here which helps with the job market even more. The only thing I really don't like about it here is when it is SO hot in July/August, but the rest of the year is very nice.

Good luck with your search. I'm sure you'll find somewhere you and your family will be happy. Just do your research and take some visits to various places if possible.

[Rebky]

You can easily find a house for that price here. Montana is beautiful, the church is strong yet we are a 'minority' and that is a brilliant way to raise your kids if you ask me. The school knows which kids are Mormon because they seem to do well in school, get into trouble less and have a certain 'way' about them that the teachers seem to appreciate. My kids (ranging from age 20 down to age 9 at present) have liked standing out because their standards are different. The town I live near has a stake center, with 5 town wards and then little surrounding towns 20 minutes away and each is a ward. I live in one of those. A nice country type ward and it's big. What does your husband do for a living?

[JaneaC]

My husband just finished his masters degree in Educational Administration. Origionally he planned on working in institional research at a University or college, but now he's thinking of staying in the corporate sector and doing metrics, or working in business intelligence. In other words he would be an analyst of sorts for an HR dept. A kind of statisticion that crunches numbers and delivers important data that helps the company make decisions. That being said, he could work for any company that has a large enough business that they need this kind of analysis. He could also be a compensation analyst. He's pretty flexible...we don't care if we work for a university or a company....we just want a good quality of life with lots of family time. Thanks everyone for your replies.

How long are the winters in Montana?

--Janea

[Jbs2763]

if you dont like winter, i'd goto Raliegh of all the places suggested lol

[Rebky]

Winter... hmmm. You no like to snow ski, and go sledding with the kids? Scraping windows and warming up the car.... LOL Winter can feel kind of long, but my City was rated #1 in the Nation for climate in the summer. :-) winter starts after Thanksgiving but it's way mild until after Christmas. It's full on winter January and February. Presently though it is starting to feel like Spring I see hibernated grass everywhere because it's still cold... like November. We could still get snow but it will melt soon after it hits the ground. Winter is completely gone somewhere in March.

The University of Montana is right here. Lots of hiking, river rafting, lakes, camping and only a shake of a leg away. Shopping is great we seem to have everything. Personally I enjoy living in a rural area... and driving 15 minutes to get my shopping and/or Entertainment.

At least look into it. I wouldn't live anywhere else on earth. If you check out my profile I think I have a picture of myself on a hike last month... it was SO beautiful up there. That was just an afternoon hike. I got to the top in 30 minutes.