Buying a home
I have carried furniture into half the neighbourhoods in this valley. Let me help you pick the right one.
Buyer representation across St. George, Washington City, Santa Clara and Ivins — with the move planned alongside the purchase rather than after it.
Relocating from out of state? Start with the relocation guide.
What buyer representation covers
- Narrowing the community before touring the houses
- Offer strategy and negotiation on all the terms, not just price
- Inspection, and reading the HOA documents inside the window
- Representation in a builder’s sales office
- Closing, possession and the move itself
Where buyers lose time here
The search usually starts one step too late
Most people begin a home search with houses. In this metro that is the expensive way round, because the four cities and thirty-odd communities inside them are not variations on a theme — they differ by build era, by what the HOA governs, by lot size and by how steep the ground is. Two homes with identical square footage in different communities are different purchases.
Start with the geography and the shortlist gets short quickly. Start with listings and you spend three weekends touring homes across nine communities, six of which were never going to suit you.
The second thing buyers underestimate is the move. It is the largest single job in the whole process, it is the one most often left until last, and it is the one I can actually take off your hands rather than advise you about.
Where this goes deeper
Three situations that need their own approach
Relocating to St. George
What a California, Nevada or Arizona buyer needs to know before choosing a neighbourhood sight-unseen.
New Construction & Builder Representation
Representation in a builder's sales office, where the agent across the desk works for the builder.
First-Time Buyers
The whole process explained once, properly, before you tour anything.
How a purchase runs
Start to finish
Financing first
A lender letter before touring rather than after. When a seller is choosing between offers, financing that has already been checked is the cheapest advantage you can hold.
Narrow to two or three communities
On build era, HOA scope, lot size and grade. This is the step that saves the most time and the one most often skipped.
Tour with a plan
Grouped by geography if you are flying in. On video if you are not — including the driveway, the side yard, the utility room and the things listing photographs never show.
Offer and negotiate
Price is one term. Timing, inspection period, what conveys and who pays for what all move, and on a relocation the possession date is often worth more than the last few thousand.
Inspect and read the CC&Rs
The inspection covers the building. The HOA documents cover what you may do with it afterwards. Both inside the window, while walking away is still an option.
Close, and move in
Utilities, keys, and a truck scheduled to the day rather than the week — because that half was planned at the same time as this one.
The part no other agent has
I have been inside these houses with a dolly
Fourteen years of moving households in and out of this metro. It is not a marketing line, it is a dataset, and it is most useful during a purchase.
- Whether the primary bedroom is up a flight that your bed will not go round
- Whether the driveway is one that a truck — or an ambulance, or a delivery — can actually use
- Whether the garage takes what you are bringing, measured rather than eyeballed
- What the HOA will and will not let you park on the lot, which is the RV question people ask too late
- Whether the lot sits low relative to a wash, and is therefore worth a drainage question
- What your current house will actually hold once it is in boxes, and whether it fits in this one
Straight answer
There are no listings on this site yet
Rather than show you a stale or half-built search, here is the position: a live MLS-backed search is not wired into this site yet. Anything I put here in the meantime would be out of date by the time you read it, and on a real estate site that is worse than nothing.
What I can do today is set up a proper search against the live data and send you what matches, which is faster than any website search and considerably more accurate. Tell me the community and the shape of what you want.
Buying questions
Do I pay you as a buyer?
How a buyer’s agent is compensated is set out in a written buyer representation agreement that we go through before we start, and it is negotiable. What I will not do is publish a rate on a web page as though it were fixed, because it is not, and it is agreed with the brokerage.
Can you represent me in a builder’s sales office?
Yes, and it is worth doing. The agent behind that desk works for the builder — that is their job, not a criticism. Register your representation at the first visit; most builders require it up front and will not let you add it later.
New construction or an established home?
New construction brings a warranty, current standards and a schedule you do not control, plus landscaping and window coverings usually left to you. An established home brings mature landscaping, a known quantity and mechanicals with an age. Different problems, both reasonable.
What about 55+ communities?
Whether a specific community is legally age-restricted comes down to its recorded governing documents and its status under the Housing for Older Persons Act. I will not assert it for any community on a web page — ask me about the one you are considering and we will read the documents.
Can I buy something to rent out nightly?
Only where the zoning and the HOA both allow it, and in Washington County that is restrictive and varies by city, by community and sometimes by phase within one development. A city permitting nightly rentals does not override an HOA that forbids them. Verify it in writing for the specific parcel before you are under contract — see investment and short-term rentals.
Do you cover Hurricane or Cedar City?
Not on this site. This one is the metro core — St. George, Washington City, Santa Clara, Ivins. For the wider region see stgeorgeutahhomesforsale.com.
Tell me what you are looking for.
Community, shape of house, rough timing. I will tell you where to look and what to watch for.