What are the differences between St George & Cedar City? (St. George: real estate, houses)

[altajoe]

In anticipation of our upcoming retirement, we're searching for a place to call home from April/May/June and October/November/December. Ideally it would have:

- Temperatures warm enough for sitting, swimming and entertaining by the pool.

- Reasonable real estate prices for a 3 bedroom 3,000sf+ home

- Reasonable taxes

- Friendly neighbors

- Fantastic views

- Good chef owned restaurants

- Decent entertainment

Any and all comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Mauka]

- Temperatures warm enough for sitting, swimming and entertaining by the pool.-
St. George, much warmer.

- Reasonable real estate prices for a 3 bedroom 3,000sf+ home
Either. St. George has a larger market and was more impacted by the drop. You will have more options in STG.

- Reasonable taxes
Not sure

- Friendly neighbors
Either.
St. George will be less provincial, there are more people living there from Northern Utah, Vegas, Cali, so you will have more of a mix.
Cedar is more rural, outside of the college it's kind of a good ol boy type of town. Less friendly than STG.

- Fantastic views
Either but STG has dramatic red sandstone views. Cedar is more alpine.

- Good chef owned restaurants
Neither, but STG more than Cedar.

- Decent entertainment
Cedar has more theater, really good theater, but that's about it.
STG has movies.

The upside of STG is you are a short drive from Cedar, and closer to Mesquite and Vegas. To get entertainment beyond a play or movie you will drive to Vegas.

STG is better for retirees unless you are living there during the summer, then Cedar is better.

STG has more/world class golf.

[trnsplntfrmNV]

Cedar City is a great place, I live here. It is not warm enough for a pool but you can have one, weather is great rarely gets over 100 during the summer and the winters are cold and it snows. Taxes are more reasonable. Cedar is smaller by a few hundred thousand and although both are college towns in Cedar you know it. St George is 45-50 minutes from Cedar and Mesquite is 1-2 hours depending on traffic and speed. There are more family owned restaurants and it is more friendly and pretty. If you look at my profile, that picture is a view from one of the parks here. Oh and shopping sucks...1 walmart, walgreens home depot big lots and 4 grocery stores.

[MrAnderson]

St. George has a desert climate, while Cedar has 4 distinct seasons.

St. George has a metro of 140,000 while Cedar's is a micropolitan area of about 54,000.

With that said, they're only about 45 minutes to 1 hour apart.

[altajoe]

Thanks for the input. Since I'd be looking primarily for a spring/fall place to be where the weather would allow for outdoor living, I'm guessing that St. George would get the nod over Cedar.

Are there any other communities that would fit the bill?

[Mauka]

Spring and Fall are great in Cedar, same with STG, it's winter that makes the difference. Winter in Cedar is cold, cool in STG. Summer in STG is hot, and coolish in Cedar.

STG is definitely more of a pool kind of town though.

[karenSG]

I think Mesquite, Nevada is a viable choice for you. Better temperatures than SG for the months you want to be outdoors, better laws and taxes depending on your viewpoint. The only reason I stay in SG instead of Mesquite is that SG fulfills my shopping needs better. I retired here from Calif., and now my daughter and son in law bought a house in Santa Clara (adjacent to SG) for the same shopping reasons. They stayed in Mesquite in their RV from Sept. to March and decided they did not want to subject their hairy dog to the summer heat there.

Mesquite is closer to Las Vega, where the chefs and entertainment are.

[altajoe]

Karen,

I've given Mesquite some thought, but really don't know too much about it. Does it have any established amenities? It kind of looks like a slew of 1/4 acre lots with identical houses dropped in the middle of nowhere , with some box stores to provide food, etc.

I hope I'm wrong.

[karenSG]

About all I know is it has golf, golf course subdivisions, and casinos. Until the economic problems hit, it was growing--just as St. George was.

Athletic activities, nature visits, and movies are the main "amenities" around this whole area.

It is not a metropolitan place. For example, you'll never ride an escalator in a department store--but we finally got a See's candy store!!

[FERGUSONFAM5]

What a beautiful picture...I want to live right there!!