Any Home Owners In St George or Washington? (St. George, Hurricane: short sale, vacation home)

[AtomicUK]

Hi

We are looking to buy a vacation home in Utah and are currently looking at St George or Washington having just returned from there.

Are there any home owners located there that may be able to answer some questions for us as we do our research?

Thank you in advance.

[AtomicUK]

Also interested in hearing from anyone in Hurricane

[Chickrae]

Not a home owner yet....but hope to be very soon.

[AtomicUK]

Originally Posted by Chickrae

Not a home owner yet....but hope to be very soon.

Hi Chickrae
Did you get my email?

[toby04]

I live 50 miles from St george do some shopping there and read St. George newspaper, do some work there, etc. I do see tons of houses reduced, there was so many houses built that have never been occupied. You can look on craigslist for some ideas. I'd be happy to answer any questions I could.

[Chickrae]

Originally Posted by AtomicUK

Hi Chickrae
Did you get my email?

I don't think so.

[dogmom]

Atomic, I did get your email and will get back to you tomorrow, haven't been around home much today..

[AtomicUK]

Originally Posted by dogmom

Atomic, I did get your email and will get back to you tomorrow, haven't been around home much today..

Thanks dogmom, I look forward to it.

Thanks also to the other replies.
Perhaps a little back ground as to what we want might help you know what we are after information wise.

The reason for looking St George etc was, as I am away working on tours most years from April until the mid October,
I doubt we would come over that often in the summer when people are saying it is too hot there, so the prime months
for us to visit will be October to March when it will be cooler but still very warm to us Brits!

Legally we can only spend a maximum of three months there on a visa waiver program, without applying for a longer stay
visa which would allow six months stay if granted.

I thought the location of St George (or area) would allow us the chance to see concerts and shows in Vegas while flying
in and out of LAS, but still give us the quiet life in Utah.

Naturally St George has a sound commercial structure, so shopping is good, while there are endless hiking, photography
options all around, especially Zion, Bryce etc etc.

We'd also like to try skiing, so it allows visits to Brian Head to get a fix of snow with it only 90 minutes away. I think
Washington may even get a dusting of snow?

We'd be looking to buy in about a year from now and will come back a couple of times before to check areas and
houses out.

We will be looking for a minimum of three bedrooms / 2 bathrooms and I see plenty on the market at $225k or less at
the moment and many it seems are short sale, I assume due to the market crash?

Are these worth looking at and perhaps better buys if we can deal with the wait?

I have many more questions, so I hope I won't annoy you too much, but being so far away and not being American,
many basic purchase rules, costs and the ways of doing things are very different and new to us, so please excuse
me if I ever sound naive!

Thanks again!

[dogmom]

Hey Atomic, from what you have said, you will probably love it there...the best months are October-April, and yes it will seem warm to you. I've been to London once, last year in May, and it was nice, but I am assuming most of the year the weather is like where we are now, gray and drizzly, rainy, etc.. We are in western Washington state, in the beautiful Pacific Northwest near the coast, it's beautiful and green, but this time of year,well...gray.

If you like hiking and such, have you given any thought to Geocaching? I will email you the link to geocaching.com. We got involved with it last spring and love it. You need a handheld GPS and it's a ton of fun. We have hidden a few caches down there in Southern Utah...I'll give you the links..lots of fun and uses your brain!

Vegas is about an hour and a half drive, yes whatever you want to do is there! We always called going to Vegas a 'field trip'.

Anyway, I will email you..as far as 'timing'..wow it's a tough call. We are also on the home buying end now and will start looking in earnest right after the first of the year back 'home' in Sacramento..we are thinking now is a good time, listen, if you find the right house, go for it..it's a home to live in, don't think of it as an investment right now, that's how everything went south...people buying and over extending themselves for their 'investment homes'. there are tons of homes out there..In fact, we have friends who are looking to sell, lovely, lovely home in St. George, granite, about 1800 sq feet and in your price range. if you want I can give you that info, also..they would like to do it without a realtor, which is not a big deal, escrow handles all the paperwork.

ok just got up, got things to do..later

[DesertMountainsDesert]

You are CRAZY to buy a home now when homes are deflating faster than can even be tracked, all over the country. realtors say it's a good time to buy, they're lying. Wait a year or two, you'll see bargains like no one's seen since the last Great Depression. Check out The Housing Bubble Blog - check out the comments - lots of good economic advice. I sold my house at the top of the boom and will not buy for another 3 years or more. Every day, prices go DOWN and it's not going to end until affordability is based on income like it must be.