July 2024 | Urban Utah Homes and Estates

J-Town

July 24, 2024/in Living Here: Urban Utah Blog /by Babs De Lay

Unless you’re a Native American, we’re all immigrants to this state. We were discovered by trappers and explorers, some of whom stuck around, followed by the great Mormon trek of folks who sought a place to live and practice their religion. Once the white colonizers from Britian and Scandinavia took over the land industry began popping up, including gold, silver and copper mines followed by the railroads in the late 1800’s. The blue collar labor jobs of digging ore, working in mills or laying tracks fell to immigrants from China, Japan, Greece, Korea, Crete, Croatia and Serbia. Labor agents in foreign countries worked with local business leaders to bring in thousands of workers to Utah.

By 1910 there were over 2,000 Japanese living in and around 100 South, between 200 West and 300 West. The Issei (first generation) of immigrants who moved here were both skilled and non-skilled laborers, mostly men who later brought wives to the capitol city once they decided to make Utah their permanent homes. Soon after their arrival they built a Japanese school, the Japanese Church of Christ and the Salt Lake City Buddhist Temple, a studio for Obon dance and kendo lessons, markets and noodle shops in what became known as Japantown or Japantown Street.

By the time WWII began and after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, 11,000 Japanese-American citizens were relocated form San Francisco and the West to the infamous internment camp at Topaz, outside of Delta, Utah. This ended up tripling the number of Japanese citizens in our state of which many stayed here, since their homes and businesses had been confiscated and sold off by the U.S. government during the war. Japantown was a wonderful gathering place for social and religious events as well as a source for Asian-centric foods. Over the years people moved away from downtown and spread out into the community, and when plans were announced to build the Salt Palace in 1969 Japantown was mostly gone except for the two churches on the block.

In 2007 the SLC City Council approved an honorary name change for the street, declaring it officially “Japantown Street”. I was a volunteer member of the Planning and Zoning Commission and fought to keep at least some of the area preserved despite the Salt Palace expansion. We got a small victory with a lovely Japanese garden on the north side of 100 South, and the two churches are still intact.

Now big money is hovering over Japantown, Abravanel Hall, the Delta Center and the Salt Palace to re-imagine and create a sports and entertainment district in the area. The last remnants of this vibrant community and history could be in jeopardy of disappearing, to go by the wayside like ‘Greektown’, which only has a TRAX station named after it left for the world to know another ethic group lived side by side Japantown, downtown.

Traveltime

July 19, 2024/in Living Here: Urban Utah Blog /by Babs De Lay

Summertime and traveltime go hand in hand. The weather warms up and folks want to get out and explore, and since the Pandemic stopped so many travel plans, Americans have been on the web booking travel plans to near and far off places. Many of those destinations require passports, and lucky Utah is going to get one of six new passport agencies opening in the country. It appears that more of us are traveling abroad today than at any time in our history. In 1990, only 5% of us had a passport but in 2023 the Department of State issued over 24 million passport books and passport cards-more than ever before.

The world’s first standardized passport was issued in 1920 following an agreement among the Leaue of Nations to begin standardizing passports. Governments met in France and agreed to the design, layout and size of the document for 42 nations. Back then the booklet showed not just the face and home address of the traveler, but also their occupation and had a place for a photo of the spouse and photos of the children because back then the protocol for a passport was based on the idea that the passport owner was a married man traveling at times with their family. The booklet was dubbed ‘Old Blue’ due to its color, but then in 1988 it changed to a burgundy color.

Nowadays you can walk into a FedEx office and use ‘RushMyPassport’ for expedited travel passports, rushed renewals and expedited travel visa services. You can go online at fedex.com to start your application, and it’s about $15 to get the two required passport photos taken there. You can then print all your documents and with the photos send them via FedEx to RushMyPassport. What’s different about this news is that we’re going to actually get a walk-in center for folks seeking last minute passports /travel documents which is direct connection to the government’s Department of State. It will certainly save a lot of time and heartache for future travelers. You might remember back during the Pandemic that folks were waiting up to six months to get their passports and visas because offices were closed around the country. I had to renew mine this year and it took about 30 days to get the booklet and card back.

It’s $160 if you want a new passport and passport card. The card, which looks a bit like your driver’s license can be used when crossing borders to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and Caribbean countries but is not valid for international travel by air. The Card along is only $30, and the passport without the card is $130. It’s $100 for a child’s passport book and $15 for the card. If you want to rush the application add $60 for expedited service and another $20 to get it back in 1-2 days once the passport is completed.

Buying New Construction

July 3, 2024/in Living Here: Urban Utah Blog /by Babs De Lay

The National Assn. of Home Builders have chimed in about what home buyers really seem to want these days. In their most recent national survey of builders involved in erecting homes, not condos, the data showed that smaller home construction is the norm (less square feet) became obvious in 2023 and is continuing this year in an effort to make the buying process more palatable. We all know that as mortgage rates creep up, more buyers fall out of dreaming of purchasing a home!

I’ve recently sold new construction at Daybreak and at a townhome project for Garbett Homes and know first hand how much buyers want to be able to choose how their homes look inside, including things from doorknob finishes to larger steam showers in the primary bedroom suite. Builders will usually have a base price with standard features, and anything different that varies from these designs will cost for each and every upgrade requested. The design centers for our major builders in Utah are astounding and offer displays of flooring, counters, lighting, carpeting, LV flooring types, appliances, paint colors and fixtures. Once a buyer gets a new construction contract signed with a builder, they will then go to the design center to pick out all their options. Many are free (paint colors for example), and many more can be upgrades.

What have builders learned about buyers’ needs these days and what they want in their new homes? Here’s just a few that I wrote down on my last visit to one of these design centers: added storage shelving in garages, Energy Star appliances/HVAC, solar panels and battery storage, electric vehicle charging stations in the garages, programmable thermostats, video doorbells and energy management systems for the home that can all be controlled on the owners cell phones, outdoor fireplaces and outdoor kitchens, built-in security cameras, two head steam showers and a laundry room near the primary bedroom. Most new construction new homes don’t offer in the initial asking price a finished basement, but there are great options offered at a price (of course) for a permanent movie theater with stadium seating and built-in screen and surround sound and/or a smaller electronic gaming room.

Buyers want to personalize their new home from the get go which isn’t always possible on used inventory, unless you run into an investor/owner who will work with you on updating an older home for sale. Know that when you do purchase brand new construction and want upgrades over the standard features, you will have to have cash up front to pay for at least 25% of the cost of those new features. That’s in addition to the required earnest money (each builder is different). Now is a great time to look at building a new home, as developers are offering many financial incentives such as paying for buyers mortgage closing costs or throwing in extra features like partially finishing a basement.