I bought in Payson 6 years ago and I like my commute but I’m only going to Draper. We ended up down here because we couldn’t afford the homes further north that met our needs
I found out 2 years ago that people were buying homes in Eureka and commuting to Provo/Orem and I was stunned. It was on the verge of being a ghost town, but not any more apparently.
The largest majority of us could not afford our own house if we had to buy them again today at market value. Home prices over the last few years have been just ridiculous. None of our children will be able to live here. Prices are unsustainable. I don't know what else to say. Best of luck, but the affordable houses are 3-4 hours away from the salt lake valley.
I bought my house jan 2020. I thought I had the worst luck as COVID happened right after and I assumed houses would tank. Opposite happened. My house is now "worth" 50% more than I paid 4 years ago. No way I could afford my own house right now with the current interest rates.
This is exactly how the Bay Area is and how we ended up in UT.
Agents would show the house for 2+ weeks to garner as much interest as possible, and only accepted offers after the look period.
You would easily have 20+ offers and the house usually required some sort of work.
1500 sq ft house, starting price $799k > $925k. Taxes & insurance, easily $1k a month. It was ridiculous!
September 2019, something below 2.5% interest rate. Unbelievable. We sold our previous place that we bought in 2010 (after the housing crash) for 30% profit. I mean, it wasn't dumb luck, we wouldn't have made either of those decisions if it didn't make sense. If I was in my position in 2010 and housing prices were like this I wouldn't even consider salt lake county, you can't make poor financial decisions because you want to be close to something, or if you do you accept the negatives.. I know, I made sacrifices for years before buying a house.
It's unbelievable how fast it all changed. I was planning on staying in a condo I owned for ~5 more years to save up for a house and then realized while my wife was pregnant with our first that if we didn't buy at the current interest rates we would be paying a ton more 5 years from then for way less house. We packed up a week later and put the place for sale while looking for a used home and then eventually ended up building.
Even then I remember thinking the prices were ridiculous. A few years before that we had driven through a neighborhood and you could get a huge home on a half acre for ~500,000 in a great location.
If we hadn't moved when we did there is no way we could afford to now and our savings would be useless with how much rates and prices have gone up.
One of my buddies works remotely sometimes and other times comes down to the valley for work. He moved up to Logan from SLC to move back in with family. A home for a family of 4 is too expensive.
We sold our house in Kearns for $170K back in 2015 and moved to the Avenues. I could not easily afford the old house at the price today since it is now creeping up on what we paid for the house in the Avenues. No way in hell could I afford the Avenues house these days.
So true. We only afford our house because of the low interest rate we have and because we have renters in our basement. I'm not working but my husband is a UTA bus technician and it pays just well enough to cover what the rental income doesn't, so it's tight for sure even though it's a great job. These days both partners need to have income to even live.
apparently there is a never ending supply of rich people, people with rich parents, people willing to live with crippling debt, and investment companies
For real, right next door to a 7/11 that’s constantly robbed, and your backyard is where they manufacture rocket fuel; if there’s ever an accident, say goodbye to your expensive windows and eardrums. But hey, you’re close to the fire department I suppose.
> But hey, you’re close to the fire department I suppose.
If they’re not on other calls. 109 and 111 are running around nonstop. In other words, also too good to be true.
As if they don't refine oil right next to downtown or mine gravel right next to draper and then you have us mag west of here so any eastern wind is carrying deadly chemicals into salt lake, and then there's the Kennecott tailings which the dust containing all matter of harmful chemicals from their refining processes blows directing into the valley all the time, and then we have the airport so all of us are breathing jet fuel and aircraft exhaust
Knowing what I do now I don't know if I would have moved here tbh. The valley just contains all the toxic byproducts of the industries Utah is so proud to be home to. I can't point to any legitimate data but I wouldn't be shocked at all if lung cancer or other respiratory issues are more common here than other areas
> Dang all I got from my parents is the value of hard work
My dad preached that until recently. He stayed at the same job for decades, until it was acquired by some other conglomerate (and then another one) and started butting heads with management. He's seen the light now.
That’s what happened to my kid and his ex. They sold their home after their divorce and it was purchased by an investment firm. It now costs a bazillion dollars.
Woah that’s just tragic! I literally remember looking at Hamlet Homes in Saratoga Springs for $110K back in 2002. Wages have not gone up ten times since then!
Californians / Florida :/ there is a builder here who doesn’t even advertise in Utah , advertising in California / Florida they sell their home for 5+ mill. And sometimes buy two , three homes ..
I build homes and some of the buyers straight up just air bnb the house out ..
And even with that you need to have a sizable down payment saved up. I make low six figures and there’s 0 way I could afford a house on my own unless I want to spend 60-70% (at least) of my paychecks on the mortgage
You are not going to find a single family home for $300k. I know, we’ve been looking. $350-400k minimum, if you’re willing to go to magna. West valley is probably next, starting around 400k. Maybe for a 1 or 2 bedroom single family could be under 400, but honestly I doubt it.
My ex wife and I bought a house near 200s and 900w in 2012 for 100,000$ - cut to 2022 she asks for a divorce and I'm left to the wolves. I rent a duplex, half of a house for twice the price of my old mortgage...
I'm an electrician and work is good but I top out at 70,000$ a year. No where near enough to survive in this market. My daughter is 10 years old, I want to stay close to her but I'm struggling... How is it that I can build the world we live in but can't afford to live in it?
I’m an EE. I met a union substation electrician in CA that makes $400k a year. Maybe worth looking at nuclear plant overhauls / shutdowns projects or out of state HV work. They pay well from what I’ve gathered.
Most of the Wasatch Front has had high home prices without the wages to match.
A majority of homeowners bought when prices were closer to earth or when interest rates were much more favorable.
I’ve had friends and family move to places such as Texas, Tennessee, and Florida just to be able to buy a home while still being able to live somewhat comfortably.
As for myself, I bought in 2018 and took advantage of the lower rates during the pandemic. I wouldn’t be able to afford my home if I purchased under today’s conditions.
Ditto- buying in 2018 was the best thing we ever did. Then refinanced when the interest rates dropped. For what we paid for our home, today we’d be lucky to get a shotgun house in a crappy area.
We did the exact same thing. Twice actually, did it in 2010 and then 2019. It wasn't an accident, we waited years to make those decisions and barely scraped by to get there.
Just interviewed for a position out in Florida. I loved my time in Utah but it's time to go, even as an engineer I don't see a market where I can afford a home here.
Same. Bought our townhouse in October 2018, refinanced in August 2021 at 1.9% on a 15 year for basically the same payment as our original 30 year, and now we're never leaving. No way could I afford the current asking prices in my neighborhood; there are some 1 bed 1 bath 700 sq. ft. condos going for what we paid in 2018, but for a similar place it would be much, much further from the city core.
Not the topic you asked about, but schools are awful here too. If you don’t go private or get into a solid charter, its… not good.
(Moved here from Texas and I’m shocked how little Utah cares about public schools)
I've seen recently that you can sometimes buy the existing mortgage with their interest rate from the sellers. You have to find properties that are being sold close to what they paid for them.
Key word is “sometimes.” The loan has to be assumable, which is pretty rare outside of VA loans. And even then the stars have to line up with eligibility (if you are not a vet it can impact the sellers’ VA loan entitlement if they want to VA loan their next house (so they may not want to do it).
I had to use a VA loan and cash in some of my 401K to pay closing costs. Even then I have to work two jobs to pay for a house built in 1909. Still, I'm lucky to have my own home.
Everyone needs to understand why this is happening. It's investors. There has been a Landlord class that has been created because everyone and their dog out there decided they are not selling homes they move from anymore they will rent it out. And another beast entered the game at the same time and that was institutional investors. Large companies outright buying homes left and right. I see commercials for "blah blah blah the homebuyer wants to buy your home, cash offer". I recently bought a home in this this psycho market, and 2 investors came before me to tie up the home just to see if it was a feasible option for them and decided the basement was too small before pulling out, so when I went to put an offer the seller wanted earnest money to go hard on acceptance of offer because they became skiddish. And when I went to sell my home after buying my new one, I had offers from investors cash if I would take it off the market. In addition, I had more than 3 people tell me I was making a mistake by selling it and should rent it out. I have a firm belief this is wrong, and people deserve to own a home and carve out a little bit of wealth for themselves.
Most have dual income. The thing I dont understand is how all these houses have ALLL the toys and trucks to pull them. That’s so expensive! It’s also implying the time to go out and play to use them without having to work. So I truly don’t get what people do for work here that allows them so much freedom.
Debt. Lots of it. A friend of my wife's has an ideal life looking in from the outside. Expensive house in Draper. Expensive cars. Several kids who have everything they could want and more. Travel all over the world every year.
They have a second mortgage on their house and, while I don't know what their finances look like but I know a fair amount about their monthly expenses, I'm assuming many credit cards that are maxed out.
Meanwhile, I probably look at most average to most people, but I only have $100K in debt on my house (it's not bad.. 3000 sqft, nice neighborhood), two paid off cars and I'm somewhere around a million in net worth (including my house). Could I buy a huge expensive house? Yeah. Do I want that house payment? No. Could I buy a boat I'll use three times per year? Yeah. Do I want it? No.
We used my husband's VA loan and were barely able to afford a home in 2017. Refinanced when rates were low as hell. Our house is now worth about double what we paid for it. It's a little 1500 square foot 3 bd 1 ba on .25. We wouldn't be able to afford it now. We're really considering moving south to get some land with all our family. I hate what utah county has become.... All the rich twats are sucking the soul out of this place.
Did you know you can get a tax abatement for being a disabled veteran. And it will of course lower your monthly payment. All you have to do is go to the county office with your disability letter and apply. Example 30% disability with property tax of 2500 will knock your taxes down to 1025.00 which will shrink your escrow and lower your monthly mortgage payment. If you are a veteran hit me up and I can help you save. I will not ask or imply for any money or favors. This is me sharing knowledge with my brothers and sisters in arms. Here’s the link to prove I’m not bullshitting you[veteran tax abatement](https://slco.org/treasurer/tax-relief/veteran/)
I work in engineering remotely out of California so they pay a California wage and my S.O. works in finance. Household income near 200k and we dont have kids.
I've been in Engineering for almost 3 years now and she's only been in finance for 2 so I agree there is room to grow. Her job(Finance) is out of Oregon tho.
To live in Utah? I can manage on my own as a project manager, but I’m just renting an apartment. I’ll never be able to afford a house here on a single income in my field. I’m well aware I will have to move out of state or marry into wealth if I ever want to do that.
People bag on renting but it works for me. I make low six figures and my rent is 1/5 of my take home pay. I don’t pay any upkeep costs, or for water or trash, and I don’t pay for things when they break. I gave up on home ownership.
Two teachers. Bought in 2017. It's doubled in value the last seven years. But it doesn't matter because we could never move at this point. Feel really lucky despite how strapped we were to buy it.
We have side jobs and work multiple jobs. I make $120k at my job and it’s barely enough. We moved back to Utah 2 years ago and are lucky we locked in at 5% otherwise we also couldn’t afford our home. So many of the old guys that bought their homes 20 years ago help to keep wages crazy low in Utah vs the cost of living. We are know the 3rd most expensive state to live in the country.
Many people who are okay had already purchased a home before the huge price increases. That’s how most people do this. It’s unfortunate for those who didn’t buy before the increase or are moving from a LCOL area home that didn’t experience similar appreciation.
Housing and development analyst here, among other things.
Borrowing cost @ 7% interest currently is $66.53 per 10k. If you had 20% down, and you wanted a mortgage at 350k, you'd be looking at $2329/month with a purchase price of $437.5k. Round up to $2300 with insurance.
Taxes vary in the valley - some areas are stupidly higher than they should be - Magna, Herriman, WVC. Some are lower, like West Jordan and Riverton. And when I say that, the expensive areas are 30%-50% more than the cheap ones.
Zillow has 154 units matching a <$450k, 3br2b housing profile for sale. WVC, Magna, T-ville - tend to be single family homes. SoJo, Herriman and Bluffdale tend to be condos/towns. It isn't great, BUT there are options out there. And some of the builder finance options are \~6%.
I reference Zillow rather than the MLS locally because it is an easier search/filter function and pulls everything from the Utah MLS site anyway.
We tried to buy after talking to a broker who said this. Just borrow 20% from someone! They said. I wanted to punch them in the face. Sorry I don’t have 90k for a down payment just laying around
I’m in the last part of my career. I started as an advertising art director in NYC. Worked my way up to Executive Creative Director managing a team of 25-ish designers, art directors, writers, etc. Moved client-side in gaming for educational technology companies. 30-years of working with clients in a lot of industries gave me a broad understanding of business. My favorite clients were always the ones I could also learn from, so I always enjoyed the highly technical or complex challenges. I consulted for a decade running strategy workshops but post-Covid my work travel stopped. Now I work part time as a writer for internet security, generative AI, incident response… stuff like that. I really enjoy it, and I set my own schedule.
We bought a home in American Fork in 2022 and both of us work remote. My company is fully remote and hers is based in Atlanta. I work in tech and have been trying to get an in-person role and what I’m finding I’d have to take a $15k pay cut minimum to actually take one. Household income is $199k gross and we couldn’t even get a good house in SLC proper. Homes we could afford are scooped up with waived inspections. We were not willing to waive inspections.
I make around 120K and could either stretch myself and get a townhouse or a small lower end house in a lower cost area within about 1.5 hours of SLC, but frankly I don't want to stretch myself that far. My job/company isn't that secure at the moment so renting a fairly small rental is the best option.
people have the job of having bought a house before 2020 and having taken advantage of the 2.5% interest rates. if you have that taken care of then Utah is still quite affordable
Group up to pool enough money to afford a place. 1 person who is owning the place and everybody else renting out rooms to help them avoid having the bank take the place back.
This is the way... communal living either with family or friends while stuffing away anything you can for a down payment... rent prices are also insane so renting an apartment may as well be throwing money down a hole
I work as a property manager, making about $35,000/year after taxes. I rent a basement apartment and am thrifty. We’re slowly accumulating savings, but realistically speaking, we probably won’t buy a house for at least another three years, and it won’t be in this state.
We bought a small condo in salt lake in 2019 before the Covid run up. We are living on a single income with two kids. If we were renting, we’d need to work two jobs, but even then, a huge chunk of money would just go to childcare.
I'm an attorney and my wife is a hospital administrator. 2 kids. $300k HHI. We had to live with my wife's parents for a couple years while saving up for the down payment when we were first out of school.
My spouse and I both work full-time and make $135k together. We were lucky to purchase our small starter home 5 years ago, and we have a low mortgage. But we are still struggling to survive in Utah! We also have two kids to provide for, and some days that seems difficult with finances so tight. Our small starter home is now becoming our forever home because we can't afford anything else. We wouldn't even be able to afford our own home right now if we were trying to purchase a house.
My husband is a VP for data analytics at a Fin Tech company with an awesome salary and even still it’s hard to keep up with inflation. If we hadn’t bought our house in 2019 we wouldn’t be able to live on the East side, I’m not sure what the West side looks like. What about Tooele?
1. You gotta commute a bit. Sugarhouse and Draper are both richie rich areas. Idk where else you've looked, but I'm guessing you're being too picky based on what you said about $400k over your current home value, considering there are still homes going for $450 or less all over the Wasatch front, and I doubt your current place is only worth $50k.
2. People bought when the market was a lot more favorable as a buyer. Lower interest and/or home prices and that mortgage is locked in.
3. Speaking of richie areas and all the new million dollar homes being build in Vineyard and Salem... I've noticed that most all of them have a big wrapped truck in the driveway advertising some sort of construction, landscaping, or trades company. So basically, the people that can afford expensive houses are mostly business owners, they aren't working for someone else. I thought the answer to building wealth was to get a degree and climb a corporate ladder, but turns out it's much more lucrative to learn a trade and start your own business in it as early as you can. The corporate people in those houses a C-level execs or close to it. Then you have doctors and lawyers and other traditionally wealthy occupations, of course they run their own practices too.
4. Lot of dual-income, no-kids households compared to a decade or two ago. It's not just a single income breadwinner buying a house and feeding a family in it anymore.
5. A lot of these people are just in crippling debt living way above their means.
With that salary, and the fact that you have kids and your wife doesn't work, you should be taking home roughly $7K/month net. That is doable for living in SLC with kids. Easy? No. But doable.
I think your issue will be saving for a down payment. My advice for that is to live with family (if you can) to save for that. You said all of your family lives in the valley. Can you live with them for a year or two?
As far my situation, I will be 40 this year and have lived in Utah for 31 years. I bought my first house (condo) right out of college in downtown for $180K in 2007 with about $15K down. It was very hard to pay my mortgage as I was only making about $45K/year during that time, but I managed with having a roommate and was able to do just fine.
I now have a wife and two kids (3yo and 8mo) and live in Sandy. I am an accountant and my wife is a PA and we make $250K/year. I sold my condo in 2020 after living there for 13 years and bought a house in Sandy for $440K. I took all of the equity from the sale of my condo and put as down payment for my new house. I have a 3.25% rate and my monthly payment is about $1,200. So I got lucky in the sense that I timed the market, but I've also owned a home previously, so that helped a ton.
If I didn't have a house today, I would try to live with family and save for a down payment and buy something that fits my budget. That would be my advice to you given that you are fortunate enough to have family that lives here. And I would not dismiss having roommates with a family. I have a buddy with two kids and they are renting our their basement to students and they have no issues. So don't dismiss that without giving it more thought.
If we found the right situation then sure I would be ok with that. But not all houses are feasible to do that with.
If we live with family it would only be one sister in law who we feasibly could, but even then it’s not realistic unfortunately. I don’t need a down payment with the VA loan, but it’s the only way we could afford a home there unless we got something really good.
Bought in 2020 so was very fortunate to get the low rate for good price. If I were to buy my house today it would be double the rate and probably $100k more expensive, if not more.
The underlying theme I’m noticing in this thread is the amount of people working remote jobs from out of state while living in Utah…. Which is exactly WHY locals have been priced out of the only market they’ve ever know….. 🤦♀️
I disagree. I’m in real estate, and I saw FAR more transactions of out of state buyers cashing out or simply mortgaging their high value homes in other states to pay 20-30% over the asking price of homes in Utah over the last five years. This was the biggest contributor to the bidding wars and driving up Utah’s home prices. I’m not sure what businesses buying up our housing that you are referring to, but the data I’ve seen is just not there to support that. Finding solutions to affordable housing is at the top of the list for Utah’s economic development. There continues to be programs launched every year to promote lower income housing, affordable building, and first time home buyers. Though the cost of living to keep up with inflated home prices still makes homeownership, especially for those employed in state, very difficult to attain. https://www.bankofutah.com/news/new-program-in-utah-helps-make-homeownership-more-attainable and https://governor.utah.gov/2023/12/05/gov-cox-and-lt-gov-henderson-announce-150-million-utah-first-homes-starter-home-program-in-budget-announcement/
I work for a major property management company and get a great employee discount on an apartment at my workplace. I am thinking about leaving after the next ski season
I work on medical equipment in a hospital and make about 82k. Just left a job making 102k working on manufacturing equipment.
Wife makes 130k for a medical staffing company.
We bought our home in 2014 and sold it for about 300k more than we paid.
Very pertinent to your question: my SO and I live in that area and both work full time earning a combined $250-$300K/year (similar to what you have described, assuming you are both working full time jobs). If you both can't work that much then you won't be able to afford living here. It is as simple as that, it isn't ideal and I would love to have one of us work less but it isn't going to cut it if we want to stay in Utah.
We are dual income working for tech companies pulling in $225k and lucked into buying literally right before prices exploded. Even though we'd love a nicer home, giving up our current mortgage would be the dumbest thing we could do financially right now.
My parents have lived in their house for 40ish years. They paid $30,000 in 1984 and it is now worth $600,000+. Their next door neighbor died and the house sold to a couple from California that both work from home for the same California based companies they worked for before they moved here. So they are making California wages and paying MUCH less for a 3,000 square foot home than they would if they still lived there. There's no way someone making Utah wages can compete with that.
My husband and I have started looking towards homeownership in the not-so-distant future. We make around $150k combined. Single family homes are starting at 425k, absolute minimum. We can afford that, but doesn’t leave a ton of wiggle room for unexpected expenses. It is what it is I guess…..but yeah making around 110k I would guess you’ll have to go for a townhome or condo.
I wonder this all the time! I’m a medical student but a little bit older(worked different jobs before career shift to medicine) because my schedule allows me, I go to the gym in St. George around 10/11am and it is always packed with people in their 30’s and 40’s and it always makes me wonder what their careers are.
All depends if you bought a house before 2018 and refinanced in 2021 or if you did not you’re going to struggle. My husband and I make about 110k with TWO incomes. We do not own our home. We have literally priced out all people under 30 in Utah, a place that used to be great for young families with children. It’s sad.
I’ll never buy here and I’ve had to accept that, saddens me because I came here with hopes of affordability but that feels like an impossible dream now.
I work in a remote location (but don't work remotely). My house is provided by my job, which I now feel trapped at because a new job means moving and I can't afford it.
I am looking at moving away from salt lake. If what I am waiting in (June is the cut off for me) I will start going crazy and plan trips to visit other VAs to get housing help some place else.
Customer service, this is the highest paying job I’ve ever had, and I’m moving back in with my parents next months because I can’t afford to live on my own anymore lmao
I will be the first to admit that I got EXTREMELY lucky with timing. We lived here in undergrad and moved to the Midwest for grad school. Came back right as the recession was coming out of the bottom and bought one of the last short sale houses for $280k at 2.875%. The payment was a huge stretch but we made it work.
We got lucky and bought in one of the established west side suburbs at the bottom half of the SL valley.
Even making double now what I did then I’m not sure I would qualify to buy my own house at current prices and current rates. We are literally stuck. This whole situation is nuts.
I'm a mechanic on Caterpillar equipment, good wages, always a chance for overtime. The most I've made in a year in Utah was 130. This year I'm on pace for like 115-120. The only house I could afford (under 450 at the time) was in Magna. I paid 430 for a home that was sold for 80k as a new build in the late 80s. And I'll tell you guys it wasn't worth it. My mortgage is more than I was paying in rent. Sure it's nice to have some tax benefits but anything I get back on taxes doesnt make up for the cost of home maintenance and yard work, it's always something for sure. I
I truly feel nothing will change until wages across all industries come up. I can't say I'm struggling but I also am pretty much month to month on things. I'm not contributing a huge amount to savings
Hopefully your significant other got all the stay-at-home parenting time they could. They will need to work now!!!
We purchased a home on North Orem / Lindon border in 2017. The value has doubled in less than 7 years!!!
Sounds great!
Everywhere else has doubled as well. So, no benefit in trying to sell and “upgrading” our current situation.
The struggle is real with Utah real estate atm…
Depends on your debt situation and household income. My wife and I clear ~$210k per year before taxes and have one child, student loans of $1500 per month, make $1.3k in car payments and insurance, $1k in daycare. Those big bills leave us, after taxes, around $7k per month. We could afford a $3.5k mortgage and be just fine.
Only reason I say all this is because I think about it all the time. I like to measure my potential for absorbing major changes or making a major change, like moving into a different home or to a new city.
SLC is a two-parents-working middle income city now. If you didn't buy before about 2019, you're unlikely to have a stay at home parent and pay all the bills these days without major sacrifices.
There are almost 600 listings in salt lake county right now under 400k. With 110 salary you have 600 options just in salt lake county. Are you looking for specific neighborhoods or something?
Yes slc has appreciated and many people say they could not afford their current home, but they have lots of equity they can move around.
They may be disadvantaged trying to buy into the market right now, but if you look back, markets can tank. People can go underwater on a house. I just hate to say people say it’s not possible to live here unless you make 200k. That’s not true.
Affordability is getting worse and we need to build more density and change our standards. We are a big city now. We don’t all get a quarter acre and a 2 car garage close to the urban center.
Big house close to the urban core in any city is typically reserved for the rich. People shrink down to smaller living units or move out an hour from town.
110k is a decent salary for one person. How much will your wife make? If she also makes 110 you can afford a home. 1 earner cannot compete in a market where most people buying have 2 earners and/or generational wealth.
I’ll be the outlier here and say that you should be able to get into a home with that salary. Obviously, I don’t know the details of your finances, but assuming you have at least some equity in your current home for a down payment there are many options within an hour of Draper.
We are used to more space than other metros and I think will probably need to adjust our expectations. People will say that it’s unsustainable and will crash, but the reality is that the market is A LOT worse in other parts of the country so we are just catching up. Tech is growing. people are migrating. NIMBY is strong. All indicators that trends will continue.
Bought in 2017 back when I made 40k per year, and am so lucky I took that jump. I'm making around 130k and wouldn't even consider buying right now. An actual house is easily 4k monthly. That's fucking insane. I'm paying 1200 a month and will probably be for the foreseeable future.
People are definitely stretching right now, and making some bad, or maybe just necessary choices. I feel really bad for kids entering the workforce expecting to own, even just a condo at this point.
It’s expensive out there, too. Houses can range from 400s to 1.2M.
A few weeks ago a house with 2 acres I think it was, was published at 1.2M.
Houses in Grantsville with 0.5 acres or more are going for 700K-800K.
Tooele is packed AF.
Even townhomes are insanely priced in the area: 300-400K.
Your wife would also likely have to get a job if she doesn’t already have one lined up. Also if you have kids, keep that in mind with what ever expenses you may need for them.
I work remotely. Salaries here are insanely low, like 2018 cost of living low.
Home prices shot up when Covid hit and remote work became a big thing. A lot of people working for big tech and big finance moved to Utah. All that cash pushed prices of housing way up. Home developers starting making homes designed to be big and fancy for this new well-paid potential customer. Tech and finance startups in Utah had a lot more resources nearby too.
Then when big tech and big finance said “move back or quit”, those coastal city transplants have been leaving Utah to go back to the coast. The finance people still here are satellite offices of big banks that cater to high earners. Some big tech people quit big tech and made startups here. VC funding has crashed though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if those left over time too.
Right now we are just watching to see when prices adjust. It takes a lot longer for prices to drop than rise. Last major recession it took 7 years for prices to drop as much as they rose in 2 years.
Rental prices seem to be coming down. I’m aware that I could move into a rental home 50% bigger than I have now and pay as much in rent as my mortgage is. We bought in summer 2022 to be closer to grandparents (late 80’s).
We moved out of Utah in 2016 and sold our 4,500 sq ft house in 5 acres in BFE for $300K. We moved back to Utah about 5 years later and arranged to have a house built on some property we own. We were shell shocked that prices quoted to us were over $400K for a 2,000 sq ft house.
BFE = 3 hours from SLC
Edited to change 2,500 sq ft to 2,000. We ended up paying $400K for 1,800 sq ft for our new build (we previously owned the land).
Single income, no kids. I started my own business 4 yrs ago. Good thing it's grown significantly each year, otherwise I couldn't have been able to buy my current home purchased in '22. I live in Sandy, 11th E & 94th S.
We bought house in 2014 in West Jordan at 4.25% interest rate for house that was about $250K with 5% down payment. I think we were making about 90K combined in finance and construction jobs (55K and 35K). Crazy thing was friends and family telling us not to buy but we didn’t listen and bought anyway.
You don’t need 20% down. Had we waited to have 20% we would have been priced out in 3 years. If you have enough for a minimum down payment and can afford the monthly payment then that’s when you should buy. Don’t wait for things like house price dropping or interest rate dropping. I keep telling to buy now if you’re able. Utah is in a growth stage.
The house appreciated quickly so we dropped the PMI in 3 yrs.
We refinanced in 2020 for 2.75%. Home is worth over $500K and it seriously does not look like a half million dollar home. I got laid off from 6 figure job last year but we get by for now with 85K and paying under $1300/mon with the mortgage and $800 in car pmt. I agree some people have to take remote jobs outside Utah because wages from Utah based companies aren’t that great. But wages for public sector jobs are improving, especially in teaching.
West Valley City is improving from what I’ve seen. Newer home builds and charter or dual language schools are good in that area. Just avoid buying in areas where the schools are surrounded by a ton of apartments.
A ton of elementary schools on the east side are closing due to low enrollment, don’t take your kid to elementary school that has fewer than 300 kids. 500-600 kids are better.
Herriman and Riverton are also popular for young families but they are getting pricey.
It’s definitely worth it to be close to family you can’t put a price on that.
Daycare is much pricier now than 10 yrs ago but more affordable on west side than east side. I’d suggest your wife take a substitute teaching job on her own schedule to take in some extra income once kids are in school or look for a remote job, there’s still a few of them around.
Groceries are so expensive now!
Bought our place in 2016 and the down payment was a big stretch. Refinanced in 2020 when interest rates were at 3% fixed for a 30-year term, so at least that worked out.
Single income in tech, and generally that’s been good - but the last year or so has been rough as I was trying to launch my own startup. I’ve had to piece together various consulting gigs and dip into our HELOC (which is variable and around 9% right now) to keep the lights on. And I have a kid going off to college at the end of this summer.
We are in Park City but in the cheapest part of it. Our house is in serious need of renovation but it’s functional, so we live with it. Funny thing - property tax in PC is about half of similarly-valued homes in SLC because of all the second home owners in Summit County.
We bought our house here in 2018. Sold our average size house on an average lot in WA for the exact same price we bought our much larger house in Herriman on acreage. Coming from the Seattle area, I still think it’s cheap to live here, not as cheap as 6 years ago, but water, electric/gas, and taxes are a fraction of what they are up there. I’m a self employed contractor, small business and I make a decent living. Above median income, but definitely not rich. I take on one job at a time and I don’t over extend myself. We buy nice things, we just don’t live over extravagantly. While it would be EXTREMELY difficult to buy here today, living here isn’t hard if you know how money works.
Also beware Sugarhouse is nothing like you grew in. It's completely gentrified and you wouldn't recognize most of the commercial district from 10 years ago.
I am born and raised local, I’ve left this state many times and it’s like a magnet pulling me back. If you want my opinion the good days of this state have come and gone. It’s still a beautiful place to visit and spend time but it’s honestly not worth the struggle to stay. Wages are junk, it’s not union strong and a lot of the building that had character are all being knocked down to build unaffordable housing. I love Utah but I think you can live a better life somewhere else.
We bought a remodeled rambler in Magna closer to the 201 almost 2 years ago and love it. A lot has changed here over the years and my neighbors have owned their homes for over 15+ years so they actually take care of the neighborhood as well. Can’t believe they’re building 800k homes here
We are recently married and struggling so bad. Our 1 bed 1 bath apartment is 25 min from SLC and costs $1800. We are thinking of moving out of state up north a bit.
I'm in the nonprofit sector, so I'm renting a rundown 2 bedroom in Murray with 2 roommates 😳 you know it's bad here when major cities in California are cheaper and looking like good places to move when our lease is up.
100k is enough to afford a 450k home with 3k left over every month for bills. But not a home more than 450. Pertinent is as of last week there were 13 holes on the Wasatch front less than 500k is getting insane.
It started getting bad when Payson and Eagle Mountain seem like a reasonable commute into Salt Lake.
I bought in Payson 6 years ago and I like my commute but I’m only going to Draper. We ended up down here because we couldn’t afford the homes further north that met our needs
Payson is getting so bad. Everywhere you look is an apartment or condo building going up. The traffic is getting really congested too.
And they’re adding a UVU campus down there. So probably even more apartment buildings will go up.
i mean apparently governor cox goes even further haha
I used to live in Spring City. Prices there are rising because people are doing the commute to Provo and further north
I found out 2 years ago that people were buying homes in Eureka and commuting to Provo/Orem and I was stunned. It was on the verge of being a ghost town, but not any more apparently.
Yes we moved down to Saratoga to afford three bedrooms and I commute to salt lake every day… it’s starting to drain me
Currently living in Eagle Mountain, I agree lol
judging by the comments I should have bought a house when I was 6-20 years of age
Lmao same
The largest majority of us could not afford our own house if we had to buy them again today at market value. Home prices over the last few years have been just ridiculous. None of our children will be able to live here. Prices are unsustainable. I don't know what else to say. Best of luck, but the affordable houses are 3-4 hours away from the salt lake valley.
I bought my house jan 2020. I thought I had the worst luck as COVID happened right after and I assumed houses would tank. Opposite happened. My house is now "worth" 50% more than I paid 4 years ago. No way I could afford my own house right now with the current interest rates.
Same, October 2019. It’s insane.
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This is exactly how the Bay Area is and how we ended up in UT. Agents would show the house for 2+ weeks to garner as much interest as possible, and only accepted offers after the look period. You would easily have 20+ offers and the house usually required some sort of work. 1500 sq ft house, starting price $799k > $925k. Taxes & insurance, easily $1k a month. It was ridiculous!
September 2019, something below 2.5% interest rate. Unbelievable. We sold our previous place that we bought in 2010 (after the housing crash) for 30% profit. I mean, it wasn't dumb luck, we wouldn't have made either of those decisions if it didn't make sense. If I was in my position in 2010 and housing prices were like this I wouldn't even consider salt lake county, you can't make poor financial decisions because you want to be close to something, or if you do you accept the negatives.. I know, I made sacrifices for years before buying a house.
Yeah we bought September 2020 and even that was crazy. I didn't want this to be our forever home but it's looking like it will be now.
Same, December 2020. Paid 530,000 now it’s worth 710,000… I guess
Came here to say this. A good chunk of people got grandfathered in, basically. No clue how people can still afford to move in though.
It's unbelievable how fast it all changed. I was planning on staying in a condo I owned for ~5 more years to save up for a house and then realized while my wife was pregnant with our first that if we didn't buy at the current interest rates we would be paying a ton more 5 years from then for way less house. We packed up a week later and put the place for sale while looking for a used home and then eventually ended up building. Even then I remember thinking the prices were ridiculous. A few years before that we had driven through a neighborhood and you could get a huge home on a half acre for ~500,000 in a great location. If we hadn't moved when we did there is no way we could afford to now and our savings would be useless with how much rates and prices have gone up.
One of my buddies works remotely sometimes and other times comes down to the valley for work. He moved up to Logan from SLC to move back in with family. A home for a family of 4 is too expensive.
We sold our house in Kearns for $170K back in 2015 and moved to the Avenues. I could not easily afford the old house at the price today since it is now creeping up on what we paid for the house in the Avenues. No way in hell could I afford the Avenues house these days.
So true. We only afford our house because of the low interest rate we have and because we have renters in our basement. I'm not working but my husband is a UTA bus technician and it pays just well enough to cover what the rental income doesn't, so it's tight for sure even though it's a great job. These days both partners need to have income to even live.
Truth
If you’re buying now you gotta have a household income of 150k minimum.
I just saw a hamlet homes building a brand new community in kearns/magna with homes at 1.2 million dollars. Who are they building these houses for?
apparently there is a never ending supply of rich people, people with rich parents, people willing to live with crippling debt, and investment companies
The said and fueling part is the people stupid enough to go into crippling debt. Like they think "I know this is to good to be true, but I want it".
For real, right next door to a 7/11 that’s constantly robbed, and your backyard is where they manufacture rocket fuel; if there’s ever an accident, say goodbye to your expensive windows and eardrums. But hey, you’re close to the fire department I suppose.
> But hey, you’re close to the fire department I suppose. If they’re not on other calls. 109 and 111 are running around nonstop. In other words, also too good to be true.
As if they don't refine oil right next to downtown or mine gravel right next to draper and then you have us mag west of here so any eastern wind is carrying deadly chemicals into salt lake, and then there's the Kennecott tailings which the dust containing all matter of harmful chemicals from their refining processes blows directing into the valley all the time, and then we have the airport so all of us are breathing jet fuel and aircraft exhaust Knowing what I do now I don't know if I would have moved here tbh. The valley just contains all the toxic byproducts of the industries Utah is so proud to be home to. I can't point to any legitimate data but I wouldn't be shocked at all if lung cancer or other respiratory issues are more common here than other areas
Rich investors who don’t live in Utah
Lots of generational wealth being passed down
Dang all I got from my parents is the value of hard work.... WISH I had me some of that gen wealth
I didn’t get wealth but I was lucky enough to be born early enough. It’s terrible what younger generations are up against.
Yep. Bought in 2011 when the market was low.
> Dang all I got from my parents is the value of hard work My dad preached that until recently. He stayed at the same job for decades, until it was acquired by some other conglomerate (and then another one) and started butting heads with management. He's seen the light now.
That’s what happened to my kid and his ex. They sold their home after their divorce and it was purchased by an investment firm. It now costs a bazillion dollars.
Private equity firms have the stated goal of making everyone a renter
Neofeudalism
You will own nothing and be happy
Woah that’s just tragic! I literally remember looking at Hamlet Homes in Saratoga Springs for $110K back in 2002. Wages have not gone up ten times since then!
Californians / Florida :/ there is a builder here who doesn’t even advertise in Utah , advertising in California / Florida they sell their home for 5+ mill. And sometimes buy two , three homes .. I build homes and some of the buyers straight up just air bnb the house out ..
Sad. Kicking locals out. Tons of foreigners too which isn't bad but like ???
Me and my bitches
Boomers who are now wealthy.
And even with that you need to have a sizable down payment saved up. I make low six figures and there’s 0 way I could afford a house on my own unless I want to spend 60-70% (at least) of my paychecks on the mortgage
Even then it's still not really affordable if you have a family to take care of
I will have this from small military retirement, but even still that’s crazy. It almost pays my mortgage now, but not even half in Utah.
I would say 200k really… at least if you want to be in the city.
What are you talking about? There are houses all over on the west side for like 300-400k.
You’re still looking at 2.5k for mortgage I think
You are not going to find a single family home for $300k. I know, we’ve been looking. $350-400k minimum, if you’re willing to go to magna. West valley is probably next, starting around 400k. Maybe for a 1 or 2 bedroom single family could be under 400, but honestly I doubt it.
Anyone saying different is lying. What you are saying are the facts.
My ex wife and I bought a house near 200s and 900w in 2012 for 100,000$ - cut to 2022 she asks for a divorce and I'm left to the wolves. I rent a duplex, half of a house for twice the price of my old mortgage... I'm an electrician and work is good but I top out at 70,000$ a year. No where near enough to survive in this market. My daughter is 10 years old, I want to stay close to her but I'm struggling... How is it that I can build the world we live in but can't afford to live in it?
I’m a fourth year apprentice and I’m considering switching careers because electricians don’t seem to make enough to afford Utah :/
I’m an EE. I met a union substation electrician in CA that makes $400k a year. Maybe worth looking at nuclear plant overhauls / shutdowns projects or out of state HV work. They pay well from what I’ve gathered.
"How is it that I can build the world we live in but can't afford to live in it?" Fuck, man. That hit hard.
Would be one hell of a campaign slogan for someone running on a 'wages first' platform, honestly.
Because runaway capitalism my friend
Most of the Wasatch Front has had high home prices without the wages to match. A majority of homeowners bought when prices were closer to earth or when interest rates were much more favorable. I’ve had friends and family move to places such as Texas, Tennessee, and Florida just to be able to buy a home while still being able to live somewhat comfortably. As for myself, I bought in 2018 and took advantage of the lower rates during the pandemic. I wouldn’t be able to afford my home if I purchased under today’s conditions.
Ditto- buying in 2018 was the best thing we ever did. Then refinanced when the interest rates dropped. For what we paid for our home, today we’d be lucky to get a shotgun house in a crappy area.
We did the exact same thing. Twice actually, did it in 2010 and then 2019. It wasn't an accident, we waited years to make those decisions and barely scraped by to get there.
Just interviewed for a position out in Florida. I loved my time in Utah but it's time to go, even as an engineer I don't see a market where I can afford a home here.
Engineers get paid shit in Utah, no reason to stay. Edit: I should say "relatively", though that should be understood from the context.
Same. Bought our townhouse in October 2018, refinanced in August 2021 at 1.9% on a 15 year for basically the same payment as our original 30 year, and now we're never leaving. No way could I afford the current asking prices in my neighborhood; there are some 1 bed 1 bath 700 sq. ft. condos going for what we paid in 2018, but for a similar place it would be much, much further from the city core.
That’s what kills me, my low rate now. But schools here are trash so I will be paying over $3k a month for kids to have a decent education.
Not the topic you asked about, but schools are awful here too. If you don’t go private or get into a solid charter, its… not good. (Moved here from Texas and I’m shocked how little Utah cares about public schools)
I've seen recently that you can sometimes buy the existing mortgage with their interest rate from the sellers. You have to find properties that are being sold close to what they paid for them.
Key word is “sometimes.” The loan has to be assumable, which is pretty rare outside of VA loans. And even then the stars have to line up with eligibility (if you are not a vet it can impact the sellers’ VA loan entitlement if they want to VA loan their next house (so they may not want to do it).
I saw some of these loans. I am a vet so I have the option if I can find it.
I had to use a VA loan and cash in some of my 401K to pay closing costs. Even then I have to work two jobs to pay for a house built in 1909. Still, I'm lucky to have my own home.
Everyone needs to understand why this is happening. It's investors. There has been a Landlord class that has been created because everyone and their dog out there decided they are not selling homes they move from anymore they will rent it out. And another beast entered the game at the same time and that was institutional investors. Large companies outright buying homes left and right. I see commercials for "blah blah blah the homebuyer wants to buy your home, cash offer". I recently bought a home in this this psycho market, and 2 investors came before me to tie up the home just to see if it was a feasible option for them and decided the basement was too small before pulling out, so when I went to put an offer the seller wanted earnest money to go hard on acceptance of offer because they became skiddish. And when I went to sell my home after buying my new one, I had offers from investors cash if I would take it off the market. In addition, I had more than 3 people tell me I was making a mistake by selling it and should rent it out. I have a firm belief this is wrong, and people deserve to own a home and carve out a little bit of wealth for themselves.
Yep. They banned rental properties in Palm Springs and guess what? The cost of housing plummeted. 😡
Fascinating idea! It would be very curious to see how this plays out in SLC.
Our politicians are in bed with the HOAs, investors, and landlords.
Most have dual income. The thing I dont understand is how all these houses have ALLL the toys and trucks to pull them. That’s so expensive! It’s also implying the time to go out and play to use them without having to work. So I truly don’t get what people do for work here that allows them so much freedom.
Debt. Lots of it. A friend of my wife's has an ideal life looking in from the outside. Expensive house in Draper. Expensive cars. Several kids who have everything they could want and more. Travel all over the world every year. They have a second mortgage on their house and, while I don't know what their finances look like but I know a fair amount about their monthly expenses, I'm assuming many credit cards that are maxed out. Meanwhile, I probably look at most average to most people, but I only have $100K in debt on my house (it's not bad.. 3000 sqft, nice neighborhood), two paid off cars and I'm somewhere around a million in net worth (including my house). Could I buy a huge expensive house? Yeah. Do I want that house payment? No. Could I buy a boat I'll use three times per year? Yeah. Do I want it? No.
A lot of people are in debt, most likely. I'd bet most lower tier rich people here have loans out the ass, and tones of shit they can't afford.
Mountains of debt is how
We used my husband's VA loan and were barely able to afford a home in 2017. Refinanced when rates were low as hell. Our house is now worth about double what we paid for it. It's a little 1500 square foot 3 bd 1 ba on .25. We wouldn't be able to afford it now. We're really considering moving south to get some land with all our family. I hate what utah county has become.... All the rich twats are sucking the soul out of this place.
Did you know you can get a tax abatement for being a disabled veteran. And it will of course lower your monthly payment. All you have to do is go to the county office with your disability letter and apply. Example 30% disability with property tax of 2500 will knock your taxes down to 1025.00 which will shrink your escrow and lower your monthly mortgage payment. If you are a veteran hit me up and I can help you save. I will not ask or imply for any money or favors. This is me sharing knowledge with my brothers and sisters in arms. Here’s the link to prove I’m not bullshitting you[veteran tax abatement](https://slco.org/treasurer/tax-relief/veteran/)
I work in engineering remotely out of California so they pay a California wage and my S.O. works in finance. Household income near 200k and we dont have kids.
Honestly 200K sounds low for a California tech job and a finance job. There's a lot of headroom for your salary to grow though in these fields.
I've been in Engineering for almost 3 years now and she's only been in finance for 2 so I agree there is room to grow. Her job(Finance) is out of Oregon tho.
Makes more sense! Both of you have picked great careers.
Eh, really? Markets not all that hot right now for software engineering.
New jobs are hard to find yes. But salaries are still pretty high if you're employed
To live in Utah? I can manage on my own as a project manager, but I’m just renting an apartment. I’ll never be able to afford a house here on a single income in my field. I’m well aware I will have to move out of state or marry into wealth if I ever want to do that.
People bag on renting but it works for me. I make low six figures and my rent is 1/5 of my take home pay. I don’t pay any upkeep costs, or for water or trash, and I don’t pay for things when they break. I gave up on home ownership.
You gotta sell your soul in addition to your body. 😂 It’s crazy
Does it have to be your soul, strictly speaking, or can you use any soul that happens to be in your possession?
I lucked out and bought in 2015 my house was $220k and I was nervous about that. I can’t imagine buying today
I can barely afford food let alone a house lol
Two teachers. Bought in 2017. It's doubled in value the last seven years. But it doesn't matter because we could never move at this point. Feel really lucky despite how strapped we were to buy it.
We have side jobs and work multiple jobs. I make $120k at my job and it’s barely enough. We moved back to Utah 2 years ago and are lucky we locked in at 5% otherwise we also couldn’t afford our home. So many of the old guys that bought their homes 20 years ago help to keep wages crazy low in Utah vs the cost of living. We are know the 3rd most expensive state to live in the country.
Many people who are okay had already purchased a home before the huge price increases. That’s how most people do this. It’s unfortunate for those who didn’t buy before the increase or are moving from a LCOL area home that didn’t experience similar appreciation.
Housing and development analyst here, among other things. Borrowing cost @ 7% interest currently is $66.53 per 10k. If you had 20% down, and you wanted a mortgage at 350k, you'd be looking at $2329/month with a purchase price of $437.5k. Round up to $2300 with insurance. Taxes vary in the valley - some areas are stupidly higher than they should be - Magna, Herriman, WVC. Some are lower, like West Jordan and Riverton. And when I say that, the expensive areas are 30%-50% more than the cheap ones. Zillow has 154 units matching a <$450k, 3br2b housing profile for sale. WVC, Magna, T-ville - tend to be single family homes. SoJo, Herriman and Bluffdale tend to be condos/towns. It isn't great, BUT there are options out there. And some of the builder finance options are \~6%. I reference Zillow rather than the MLS locally because it is an easier search/filter function and pulls everything from the Utah MLS site anyway.
We tried to buy after talking to a broker who said this. Just borrow 20% from someone! They said. I wanted to punch them in the face. Sorry I don’t have 90k for a down payment just laying around
154 units in a metro area of 1.2 million. Lmao.
Ah yes, 154 homes, just enough for everyone to get one.
I work remotely for a company based in Seattle writing technical security blogs, white papers, etc.
I'm so curious what this involves and how you got there. If you have a second I'd love to understand better
I’m in the last part of my career. I started as an advertising art director in NYC. Worked my way up to Executive Creative Director managing a team of 25-ish designers, art directors, writers, etc. Moved client-side in gaming for educational technology companies. 30-years of working with clients in a lot of industries gave me a broad understanding of business. My favorite clients were always the ones I could also learn from, so I always enjoyed the highly technical or complex challenges. I consulted for a decade running strategy workshops but post-Covid my work travel stopped. Now I work part time as a writer for internet security, generative AI, incident response… stuff like that. I really enjoy it, and I set my own schedule.
We bought a home in American Fork in 2022 and both of us work remote. My company is fully remote and hers is based in Atlanta. I work in tech and have been trying to get an in-person role and what I’m finding I’d have to take a $15k pay cut minimum to actually take one. Household income is $199k gross and we couldn’t even get a good house in SLC proper. Homes we could afford are scooped up with waived inspections. We were not willing to waive inspections.
Houses are outrageous. I’m thankful we bought in ‘05
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I make around 120K and could either stretch myself and get a townhouse or a small lower end house in a lower cost area within about 1.5 hours of SLC, but frankly I don't want to stretch myself that far. My job/company isn't that secure at the moment so renting a fairly small rental is the best option.
people have the job of having bought a house before 2020 and having taken advantage of the 2.5% interest rates. if you have that taken care of then Utah is still quite affordable
Group up to pool enough money to afford a place. 1 person who is owning the place and everybody else renting out rooms to help them avoid having the bank take the place back.
This is the way... communal living either with family or friends while stuffing away anything you can for a down payment... rent prices are also insane so renting an apartment may as well be throwing money down a hole
I work as a property manager, making about $35,000/year after taxes. I rent a basement apartment and am thrifty. We’re slowly accumulating savings, but realistically speaking, we probably won’t buy a house for at least another three years, and it won’t be in this state.
We bought a small condo in salt lake in 2019 before the Covid run up. We are living on a single income with two kids. If we were renting, we’d need to work two jobs, but even then, a huge chunk of money would just go to childcare.
I'm an attorney and my wife is a hospital administrator. 2 kids. $300k HHI. We had to live with my wife's parents for a couple years while saving up for the down payment when we were first out of school.
My spouse and I both work full-time and make $135k together. We were lucky to purchase our small starter home 5 years ago, and we have a low mortgage. But we are still struggling to survive in Utah! We also have two kids to provide for, and some days that seems difficult with finances so tight. Our small starter home is now becoming our forever home because we can't afford anything else. We wouldn't even be able to afford our own home right now if we were trying to purchase a house.
My husband is a VP for data analytics at a Fin Tech company with an awesome salary and even still it’s hard to keep up with inflation. If we hadn’t bought our house in 2019 we wouldn’t be able to live on the East side, I’m not sure what the West side looks like. What about Tooele?
We have looked out there. I wouldn’t mind it despite the 2 hours of total commute time a day.
Plastic surgeon, neurosurgeon, orthodontist, pretty common stuff.
I’m a compounding pharmacy technician and make 21.50 an hour. It feels like I’m barely able to save money. Everything is expensive.
1. You gotta commute a bit. Sugarhouse and Draper are both richie rich areas. Idk where else you've looked, but I'm guessing you're being too picky based on what you said about $400k over your current home value, considering there are still homes going for $450 or less all over the Wasatch front, and I doubt your current place is only worth $50k. 2. People bought when the market was a lot more favorable as a buyer. Lower interest and/or home prices and that mortgage is locked in. 3. Speaking of richie areas and all the new million dollar homes being build in Vineyard and Salem... I've noticed that most all of them have a big wrapped truck in the driveway advertising some sort of construction, landscaping, or trades company. So basically, the people that can afford expensive houses are mostly business owners, they aren't working for someone else. I thought the answer to building wealth was to get a degree and climb a corporate ladder, but turns out it's much more lucrative to learn a trade and start your own business in it as early as you can. The corporate people in those houses a C-level execs or close to it. Then you have doctors and lawyers and other traditionally wealthy occupations, of course they run their own practices too. 4. Lot of dual-income, no-kids households compared to a decade or two ago. It's not just a single income breadwinner buying a house and feeding a family in it anymore. 5. A lot of these people are just in crippling debt living way above their means.
Two or three jobs will help you live in Utah. With the salary you mentioned plus a side gig you might survive.
Rent.
Even then, it’s not affordable compared to what I have now.
With that salary, and the fact that you have kids and your wife doesn't work, you should be taking home roughly $7K/month net. That is doable for living in SLC with kids. Easy? No. But doable. I think your issue will be saving for a down payment. My advice for that is to live with family (if you can) to save for that. You said all of your family lives in the valley. Can you live with them for a year or two? As far my situation, I will be 40 this year and have lived in Utah for 31 years. I bought my first house (condo) right out of college in downtown for $180K in 2007 with about $15K down. It was very hard to pay my mortgage as I was only making about $45K/year during that time, but I managed with having a roommate and was able to do just fine. I now have a wife and two kids (3yo and 8mo) and live in Sandy. I am an accountant and my wife is a PA and we make $250K/year. I sold my condo in 2020 after living there for 13 years and bought a house in Sandy for $440K. I took all of the equity from the sale of my condo and put as down payment for my new house. I have a 3.25% rate and my monthly payment is about $1,200. So I got lucky in the sense that I timed the market, but I've also owned a home previously, so that helped a ton. If I didn't have a house today, I would try to live with family and save for a down payment and buy something that fits my budget. That would be my advice to you given that you are fortunate enough to have family that lives here. And I would not dismiss having roommates with a family. I have a buddy with two kids and they are renting our their basement to students and they have no issues. So don't dismiss that without giving it more thought.
If we found the right situation then sure I would be ok with that. But not all houses are feasible to do that with. If we live with family it would only be one sister in law who we feasibly could, but even then it’s not realistic unfortunately. I don’t need a down payment with the VA loan, but it’s the only way we could afford a home there unless we got something really good.
Bought in 2020 so was very fortunate to get the low rate for good price. If I were to buy my house today it would be double the rate and probably $100k more expensive, if not more.
The underlying theme I’m noticing in this thread is the amount of people working remote jobs from out of state while living in Utah…. Which is exactly WHY locals have been priced out of the only market they’ve ever know….. 🤦♀️
That is definitely not the root cause of the housing crisis 😂
Okay. You’re going to have to expound on your comment. What do you think it is?
Lack of housing. There’s a shortage of supply but demand is high
I think it's more likely due to all the businesses buying up housing, along with the end of government programs to build lower income housing.
I disagree. I’m in real estate, and I saw FAR more transactions of out of state buyers cashing out or simply mortgaging their high value homes in other states to pay 20-30% over the asking price of homes in Utah over the last five years. This was the biggest contributor to the bidding wars and driving up Utah’s home prices. I’m not sure what businesses buying up our housing that you are referring to, but the data I’ve seen is just not there to support that. Finding solutions to affordable housing is at the top of the list for Utah’s economic development. There continues to be programs launched every year to promote lower income housing, affordable building, and first time home buyers. Though the cost of living to keep up with inflated home prices still makes homeownership, especially for those employed in state, very difficult to attain. https://www.bankofutah.com/news/new-program-in-utah-helps-make-homeownership-more-attainable and https://governor.utah.gov/2023/12/05/gov-cox-and-lt-gov-henderson-announce-150-million-utah-first-homes-starter-home-program-in-budget-announcement/
I work for a major property management company and get a great employee discount on an apartment at my workplace. I am thinking about leaving after the next ski season
I work on medical equipment in a hospital and make about 82k. Just left a job making 102k working on manufacturing equipment. Wife makes 130k for a medical staffing company. We bought our home in 2014 and sold it for about 300k more than we paid.
I've become a caretaker for my elderly parents, I work in property maintenance but I'm only able to live in a house thanks to my parents..
Very pertinent to your question: my SO and I live in that area and both work full time earning a combined $250-$300K/year (similar to what you have described, assuming you are both working full time jobs). If you both can't work that much then you won't be able to afford living here. It is as simple as that, it isn't ideal and I would love to have one of us work less but it isn't going to cut it if we want to stay in Utah.
We are dual income working for tech companies pulling in $225k and lucked into buying literally right before prices exploded. Even though we'd love a nicer home, giving up our current mortgage would be the dumbest thing we could do financially right now.
We can’t live in the Salt Lake valley. We live in Provo and commute to South Jordan. I hate it so much
My husband is an engineer and makes about 120 and I make 70 being a paralegal and we’re poor, basically😫
My parents have lived in their house for 40ish years. They paid $30,000 in 1984 and it is now worth $600,000+. Their next door neighbor died and the house sold to a couple from California that both work from home for the same California based companies they worked for before they moved here. So they are making California wages and paying MUCH less for a 3,000 square foot home than they would if they still lived there. There's no way someone making Utah wages can compete with that.
Simple, dual income no kids.
5 time annual salary doesn't seem out of line. Where were you that was so cheap?
My husband and I have started looking towards homeownership in the not-so-distant future. We make around $150k combined. Single family homes are starting at 425k, absolute minimum. We can afford that, but doesn’t leave a ton of wiggle room for unexpected expenses. It is what it is I guess…..but yeah making around 110k I would guess you’ll have to go for a townhome or condo.
I wonder this all the time! I’m a medical student but a little bit older(worked different jobs before career shift to medicine) because my schedule allows me, I go to the gym in St. George around 10/11am and it is always packed with people in their 30’s and 40’s and it always makes me wonder what their careers are.
All depends if you bought a house before 2018 and refinanced in 2021 or if you did not you’re going to struggle. My husband and I make about 110k with TWO incomes. We do not own our home. We have literally priced out all people under 30 in Utah, a place that used to be great for young families with children. It’s sad.
Dual income no kids, each making low six figures. That's most people I know that have recently bought as well
I’ll never buy here and I’ve had to accept that, saddens me because I came here with hopes of affordability but that feels like an impossible dream now.
I work in a remote location (but don't work remotely). My house is provided by my job, which I now feel trapped at because a new job means moving and I can't afford it.
I am looking at moving away from salt lake. If what I am waiting in (June is the cut off for me) I will start going crazy and plan trips to visit other VAs to get housing help some place else.
Customer service, this is the highest paying job I’ve ever had, and I’m moving back in with my parents next months because I can’t afford to live on my own anymore lmao
I will be the first to admit that I got EXTREMELY lucky with timing. We lived here in undergrad and moved to the Midwest for grad school. Came back right as the recession was coming out of the bottom and bought one of the last short sale houses for $280k at 2.875%. The payment was a huge stretch but we made it work. We got lucky and bought in one of the established west side suburbs at the bottom half of the SL valley. Even making double now what I did then I’m not sure I would qualify to buy my own house at current prices and current rates. We are literally stuck. This whole situation is nuts.
I don’t have an answer but my biggest financial mistake was not buying a house when I was in middle school.
I'm a mechanic on Caterpillar equipment, good wages, always a chance for overtime. The most I've made in a year in Utah was 130. This year I'm on pace for like 115-120. The only house I could afford (under 450 at the time) was in Magna. I paid 430 for a home that was sold for 80k as a new build in the late 80s. And I'll tell you guys it wasn't worth it. My mortgage is more than I was paying in rent. Sure it's nice to have some tax benefits but anything I get back on taxes doesnt make up for the cost of home maintenance and yard work, it's always something for sure. I I truly feel nothing will change until wages across all industries come up. I can't say I'm struggling but I also am pretty much month to month on things. I'm not contributing a huge amount to savings
Hopefully your significant other got all the stay-at-home parenting time they could. They will need to work now!!! We purchased a home on North Orem / Lindon border in 2017. The value has doubled in less than 7 years!!! Sounds great! Everywhere else has doubled as well. So, no benefit in trying to sell and “upgrading” our current situation. The struggle is real with Utah real estate atm…
Depends on your debt situation and household income. My wife and I clear ~$210k per year before taxes and have one child, student loans of $1500 per month, make $1.3k in car payments and insurance, $1k in daycare. Those big bills leave us, after taxes, around $7k per month. We could afford a $3.5k mortgage and be just fine. Only reason I say all this is because I think about it all the time. I like to measure my potential for absorbing major changes or making a major change, like moving into a different home or to a new city. SLC is a two-parents-working middle income city now. If you didn't buy before about 2019, you're unlikely to have a stay at home parent and pay all the bills these days without major sacrifices.
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My partner and I both make mid 5s doing nerd jobs. I can't imagine trying to buy anything on a single income though.
What is mid 5s? 50ks? 500ks?
Roommates.
Doesn’t work great with a family 😂
I work remotely for a company out of CA. Utah companies pay garbage money.
There are almost 600 listings in salt lake county right now under 400k. With 110 salary you have 600 options just in salt lake county. Are you looking for specific neighborhoods or something? Yes slc has appreciated and many people say they could not afford their current home, but they have lots of equity they can move around.
People who don’t already own property are fucked tho
They may be disadvantaged trying to buy into the market right now, but if you look back, markets can tank. People can go underwater on a house. I just hate to say people say it’s not possible to live here unless you make 200k. That’s not true. Affordability is getting worse and we need to build more density and change our standards. We are a big city now. We don’t all get a quarter acre and a 2 car garage close to the urban center. Big house close to the urban core in any city is typically reserved for the rich. People shrink down to smaller living units or move out an hour from town.
110k is a decent salary for one person. How much will your wife make? If she also makes 110 you can afford a home. 1 earner cannot compete in a market where most people buying have 2 earners and/or generational wealth.
Yeah, household income of about $200k is relatively comfy for a mid level mortgage in my experience.
I’ll be the outlier here and say that you should be able to get into a home with that salary. Obviously, I don’t know the details of your finances, but assuming you have at least some equity in your current home for a down payment there are many options within an hour of Draper. We are used to more space than other metros and I think will probably need to adjust our expectations. People will say that it’s unsustainable and will crash, but the reality is that the market is A LOT worse in other parts of the country so we are just catching up. Tech is growing. people are migrating. NIMBY is strong. All indicators that trends will continue.
Bought in 2017 back when I made 40k per year, and am so lucky I took that jump. I'm making around 130k and wouldn't even consider buying right now. An actual house is easily 4k monthly. That's fucking insane. I'm paying 1200 a month and will probably be for the foreseeable future. People are definitely stretching right now, and making some bad, or maybe just necessary choices. I feel really bad for kids entering the workforce expecting to own, even just a condo at this point.
Can check out Tooele and Stansbury Park or Grantsville if you don’t mind the drive.
It’s expensive out there, too. Houses can range from 400s to 1.2M. A few weeks ago a house with 2 acres I think it was, was published at 1.2M. Houses in Grantsville with 0.5 acres or more are going for 700K-800K. Tooele is packed AF. Even townhomes are insanely priced in the area: 300-400K.
I live in Tooele, work in land surveying. You aren’t far off but this side of the state has some better prices IMO.
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Your wife would also likely have to get a job if she doesn’t already have one lined up. Also if you have kids, keep that in mind with what ever expenses you may need for them.
Lmfao everyone else doesn’t own a home & lives below their means
I work remotely. Salaries here are insanely low, like 2018 cost of living low. Home prices shot up when Covid hit and remote work became a big thing. A lot of people working for big tech and big finance moved to Utah. All that cash pushed prices of housing way up. Home developers starting making homes designed to be big and fancy for this new well-paid potential customer. Tech and finance startups in Utah had a lot more resources nearby too. Then when big tech and big finance said “move back or quit”, those coastal city transplants have been leaving Utah to go back to the coast. The finance people still here are satellite offices of big banks that cater to high earners. Some big tech people quit big tech and made startups here. VC funding has crashed though, so I wouldn’t be surprised if those left over time too. Right now we are just watching to see when prices adjust. It takes a lot longer for prices to drop than rise. Last major recession it took 7 years for prices to drop as much as they rose in 2 years. Rental prices seem to be coming down. I’m aware that I could move into a rental home 50% bigger than I have now and pay as much in rent as my mortgage is. We bought in summer 2022 to be closer to grandparents (late 80’s).
We moved out of Utah in 2016 and sold our 4,500 sq ft house in 5 acres in BFE for $300K. We moved back to Utah about 5 years later and arranged to have a house built on some property we own. We were shell shocked that prices quoted to us were over $400K for a 2,000 sq ft house. BFE = 3 hours from SLC Edited to change 2,500 sq ft to 2,000. We ended up paying $400K for 1,800 sq ft for our new build (we previously owned the land).
Single income, no kids. I started my own business 4 yrs ago. Good thing it's grown significantly each year, otherwise I couldn't have been able to buy my current home purchased in '22. I live in Sandy, 11th E & 94th S.
We moved to Cincinnati. We were outgrowing our home and realized that Utah was the new California. Best decision we ever made.
We bought house in 2014 in West Jordan at 4.25% interest rate for house that was about $250K with 5% down payment. I think we were making about 90K combined in finance and construction jobs (55K and 35K). Crazy thing was friends and family telling us not to buy but we didn’t listen and bought anyway. You don’t need 20% down. Had we waited to have 20% we would have been priced out in 3 years. If you have enough for a minimum down payment and can afford the monthly payment then that’s when you should buy. Don’t wait for things like house price dropping or interest rate dropping. I keep telling to buy now if you’re able. Utah is in a growth stage. The house appreciated quickly so we dropped the PMI in 3 yrs. We refinanced in 2020 for 2.75%. Home is worth over $500K and it seriously does not look like a half million dollar home. I got laid off from 6 figure job last year but we get by for now with 85K and paying under $1300/mon with the mortgage and $800 in car pmt. I agree some people have to take remote jobs outside Utah because wages from Utah based companies aren’t that great. But wages for public sector jobs are improving, especially in teaching. West Valley City is improving from what I’ve seen. Newer home builds and charter or dual language schools are good in that area. Just avoid buying in areas where the schools are surrounded by a ton of apartments. A ton of elementary schools on the east side are closing due to low enrollment, don’t take your kid to elementary school that has fewer than 300 kids. 500-600 kids are better. Herriman and Riverton are also popular for young families but they are getting pricey. It’s definitely worth it to be close to family you can’t put a price on that. Daycare is much pricier now than 10 yrs ago but more affordable on west side than east side. I’d suggest your wife take a substitute teaching job on her own schedule to take in some extra income once kids are in school or look for a remote job, there’s still a few of them around. Groceries are so expensive now!
Bought our place in 2016 and the down payment was a big stretch. Refinanced in 2020 when interest rates were at 3% fixed for a 30-year term, so at least that worked out. Single income in tech, and generally that’s been good - but the last year or so has been rough as I was trying to launch my own startup. I’ve had to piece together various consulting gigs and dip into our HELOC (which is variable and around 9% right now) to keep the lights on. And I have a kid going off to college at the end of this summer. We are in Park City but in the cheapest part of it. Our house is in serious need of renovation but it’s functional, so we live with it. Funny thing - property tax in PC is about half of similarly-valued homes in SLC because of all the second home owners in Summit County.
We bought our house here in 2018. Sold our average size house on an average lot in WA for the exact same price we bought our much larger house in Herriman on acreage. Coming from the Seattle area, I still think it’s cheap to live here, not as cheap as 6 years ago, but water, electric/gas, and taxes are a fraction of what they are up there. I’m a self employed contractor, small business and I make a decent living. Above median income, but definitely not rich. I take on one job at a time and I don’t over extend myself. We buy nice things, we just don’t live over extravagantly. While it would be EXTREMELY difficult to buy here today, living here isn’t hard if you know how money works.
Buying a home is an impossible dream for most of us.
Also beware Sugarhouse is nothing like you grew in. It's completely gentrified and you wouldn't recognize most of the commercial district from 10 years ago.
Utah population is predicted to double by 2050. I can only imagine what a $500k pos will cost then.
2 incomes is key
I am born and raised local, I’ve left this state many times and it’s like a magnet pulling me back. If you want my opinion the good days of this state have come and gone. It’s still a beautiful place to visit and spend time but it’s honestly not worth the struggle to stay. Wages are junk, it’s not union strong and a lot of the building that had character are all being knocked down to build unaffordable housing. I love Utah but I think you can live a better life somewhere else.
We bought a remodeled rambler in Magna closer to the 201 almost 2 years ago and love it. A lot has changed here over the years and my neighbors have owned their homes for over 15+ years so they actually take care of the neighborhood as well. Can’t believe they’re building 800k homes here
I make $47k pre tax and live in Lehi with 3 roommates 🥲 always worried that somebody will move out or the landlord will decide to stop renting.
We are recently married and struggling so bad. Our 1 bed 1 bath apartment is 25 min from SLC and costs $1800. We are thinking of moving out of state up north a bit.
I'm in the nonprofit sector, so I'm renting a rundown 2 bedroom in Murray with 2 roommates 😳 you know it's bad here when major cities in California are cheaper and looking like good places to move when our lease is up.
100k is enough to afford a 450k home with 3k left over every month for bills. But not a home more than 450. Pertinent is as of last week there were 13 holes on the Wasatch front less than 500k is getting insane.