FAQ
Straight answers, including the unhelpful ones
Some of these are questions I cannot answer on a web page. Where that is the case, this says so and explains why rather than guessing.
The basics
About working with me
Which brokerage are you with?
Keller Williams. If you find a listing or a profile showing a different brokerage for me, it is out of date.
What areas do you cover on this site?
The St. George metro core: St. George, Washington City, Santa Clara and Ivins, plus the communities and subdivisions inside them. For the rest of Southern Utah — the Zion corridor, the smaller towns, Cedar City, the Kanab side — see stgeorgeutahhomesforsale.com. Same person, different territory.
Do you represent buyers, sellers, or both?
Both. A good many clients are doing both at once, which is where most of the interesting scheduling problems come from.
What makes you different from any other agent?
I have owned and run a moving company in Washington County since 2012. Fourteen years of that means I have been inside most of the subdivisions in this valley with a dolly, and I can handle the move itself rather than hand you a list of movers. The fourteen years is moving experience, not real estate tenure — worth being precise about.
Do I have to use your moving company?
No. It is available, not compulsory, and it is a separate agreement from anything to do with the house. Plenty of clients use me purely as their agent.
Money
Costs and commissions
What is your commission?
Commissions are negotiable and are agreed with the brokerage in a written agreement, so no rate is published here. Any website quoting a figure as the standard rate is describing a preference, not a rule.
What does it cost to work with you?
No two moves inside this valley cost the same. Tell me what yours involves and I'll put a plan and a number in front of you.
Is the valuation really free?
Yes, and it does not commit you to listing with me. What it will not be is a flattering number designed to win the listing — the point of it is to be accurate.
How much does the moving side cost?
It is quoted on the job. A two-bedroom condo on the flat and a four-bedroom home up an elevated driveway are not the same work, and a website figure would be wrong for nearly everyone.
Buying and relocating
Moving here
I am relocating from out of state. Where do we start?
With the community, not the houses. The metro is four cities and around thirty communities that differ by build era, HOA scope, lot size and grade. Narrow to two or three of those first and the house search becomes manageable.
Can I buy without visiting?
People do. It works when the community was narrowed first, the walkthrough was thorough and included the unglamorous parts, the inspection was full, and the HOA documents were read inside the window. It goes badly when someone buys from listing photographs alone.
Are there listings on this site?
Not yet. A live MLS-backed search is not wired in, and rather than show you something stale I will set up a proper search against the live data and send you what matches. That is faster and more accurate than any website search anyway.
Do I need an agent if I am buying new construction?
The agent in a builder’s sales office represents the builder — that is the job, not a criticism. If you want someone reading the contract on your side, bring representation and register it at the first visit, because most builders will not let you add it later.
Where I will not guess
Two questions with legal consequences
Is [community] a 55+ or age-restricted community?
I will not assert that for any community on a web page. Whether a community is legally age-restricted depends on its recorded governing documents and its status under the Housing for Older Persons Act, and getting it wrong has Fair Housing consequences for both of us. Ask me about a specific community and we will read its documents together.
Can I rent this property out nightly?
Only where the city zoning and the HOA both permit it, and in Washington County that is restrictive and varies by city, by community, and sometimes by phase within a single development. A city permitting nightly rentals does not override an HOA that forbids them, and a listing remark is not a determination. Send me an address and I will verify that parcel against both, in writing, before you are past your contingencies. See investment and short-term rentals.
How long will my house take to sell?
I will not give you a number of days for a house I have not seen. After walking it I will tell you what is likely to help and what is not, which is a more useful answer than a confident guess.
What will my house sell for?
Also not something to answer from a web page. A valuation means walking the property and looking at what has actually sold in your subdivision — automated estimates have never seen the extension, the casita or the renovation.
The move itself
Moving, storage and furniture
What if my closings do not line up?
You store. It is an ordinary situation with an ordinary solution: the household goes into storage for the gap and is delivered into the new place when it is yours. Planned in advance it is a line item; discovered a week out it is a scramble.
What do I do with furniture that is not coming with me?
Quality pieces are worth consigning rather than abandoning. We run a consignment showroom for exactly that reason. Approved items are photographed, displayed and sold on the terms of a signed consignment agreement; what nobody wants is donated or disposed of on a scheduled day.
When should I start packing?
Before the listing goes live, starting with things you will not miss. Every box that leaves before the photographs makes the house show better.
Can you help if I am moving out of Utah?
The moving side handles long-distance moves. The real estate side stops at the state line, so if you are buying at the other end you will want an agent there — and I would rather introduce you to a good one than pretend otherwise.
Can I use the movers without buying or selling a house?
Yes. The moving business predates the real estate work by years and takes ordinary moving jobs.
Question not answered here?
Ask it directly. It usually tells me what to write next.