My Take on Salt Lake City
My dream had always been to own a primary home (in TX) and a second home in the mountains - preferably near a lake or river. Initially, I envisioned Vail or Beaver Creek, Colorado. That dream however is slowly shifting to Utah and here’s why.
Salt Lake City (SLC) and the surrounding mountain towns are incredible. Donned the mormon capital of America, SLC is greatly misunderstood and that is its greatest strength! Like any city built on religious roots, outsiders tend to gravitate and judge based on extreme stereotypes, not the norms. The people of Salt Lake City could not be nicer and more down to earth. Recently I met Property Reserve Inc. (Mormon Church’s real estate arm) and we had a good laugh about our respective religions’ enigmatic extremist positions. Netflix documentaries aside, the jews and mormons share similar traits and are both steeped in family, faith and ethics. The Mormon bedrock that SLC is built upon is one strong foundation and it’s incredibly exciting to witness!
Salt Lake City is a booming metropolis and when you’re there it feels like we’re still in the early innings of a city that’s rapidly shifting and expanding. Sandwiched between the Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch mountains, this north / south stretched city is a beehive of economic activity, family values and mountain thrill seekers. While the city is thriving and evolving, its easy to reach mountain towns are some of the best city amenities one can dream of.
The Utah mountain towns like Park City and Canyons offer some unique benefits compared to the Colorado mountain towns:
Proximity to the major airport. Denver and I-70 are a hassle and good luck on a long weekend getting to the Rocky mountains! Park City is a 30-45 minute drive from the airport which is perfect for a Sunday morning ski session into an afternoon flight home.
The mormon foundation and values has created some really cool cultural places and experiences. The history and new-age cultural representation are often times in stark contrast to one another and it’s interesting to watch it evolve and morph together to create a modern city. Whereas Denver wears its progressiveness on its sleeve, Salt Lake City has a healthy mix of conservatism and progressivism and that can be seen with the adjacency of Temple Square and the Lower Avenues neighborhood.
The physical city of Salt Lake City has a similar business climate to Dallas and feels very welcoming and inviting. I do business with some large real estate groups that are based in SLC today and it’s a town that I hope to continue to do business and visit for years to come. Denver at times feels like a second-campus city to Texas or San Francisco - oil & gas + tech spillover space - where as SLC has a self-reliant nature to it.
The Canyons and Park City ski resort offer some of the largest contiguous skiable terrain in the world and the summer activities are equally exciting and accessible. The I70 mountain towns are often difficult to reach and tend to be rather isolated per town.
While the workforce housing is strained in the mountain towns of Colorado and struggling to find workers, the Wasatch mountains’ proximity to the major SLC metroplex gives the average worker the ability to commute to the mountains and come back to rather affordable housing.
SLC is within driving distance to some of the nations coolest desert national parks - Zion and Bryce Canyon. The mountain towns of Colorado have the sheer beauty of the Rockys to enjoy but it doesn’t have the balance of topography that Utah offers.
One of my favorite bloggers and real estate developers also shares his love for Utah and Salt Lake City HERE. I hope one day to have a condo or a house in Park City - until then, a boy can dream (and opine)!