Moving To Salt Lake? Get Ready To Adjust!

Moving to Salt Lake City from anywhere takes real adjustment:

Moving to any new metropolitan area requires adjustments. There's new streets to learn, new weather patterns to get used to, and new social cultures to assimilate.

In Salt Lake, just learning how the streets are numbered and the towns are laid out takes some getting used to.

The famous Utah liquor laws and private club culture will keep a persons head spinning.

And don't forget the religion issue; although having lived in Salt Lake for 30 years, I've found that the impact of not being of the predominant faith has been extremely over estimated.

There's also new costs.

Just like home values vary by area, so does the Cost of Living. To visit a doctor in Chicago, as an example, costs a person more than to visit a similar-type doctor in Des Moines.

Locally I suspect the cost of a visit to a doctor in Sandy UT, is priced higher than a treck to one in Magna.

Cost of Living adjustments can't be ignored between two cities because it changes a household's budget.

And while it's a challenge to know exactly how far your dollar can stretch in a new town, Bankrate.com hosts a helpful Cost of Living Comparison Calculator to make the math a little easier. With categories such as dry cleaning, groceries and beauty salon, the calculator goes extra deep into the typical costs to a household, and can help families to make more realistic budgets.

The calculator also shows the equivalent household income between any two metropolitan areas.

I hope you have fun with this little tool.

I'm adding it to our web-site, Salt Lake Real Estate, so that folks thinking of moving to SLC or being transferred to Sandy UT, or West Jordan can determine how much relocation to Salt Lake will cost or save them.

They can also search for all the homes for sale on the MLS by going to SLC Homes for sale and see houses and condominiums to buy all over the valley.

Or you can just call and talk to us @ 801-567-0946. We'd love to talk about your move to Salt Lake, and how to adjust.

Published Thursday, June 18, 2009 2:13 PM by Corie Seymour