Cedar City Real Estate (relocating, property taxes, condo)

[Blondie-Rabbit]

The keeping out higher paying jobs is the fact of the old line families who won most the business or run the governemnt who have old friends who have businesses here. They just plain do not want another company to come in and bring in jobs that pay more, since they would have to compete. Port 15 if you drive by has very few companies in it. It maybe promoted, but when you really get into negotiations, you will find the wage factor a big hurdle. You pay California prices for things, and get paid as if you are on the lower scale in West Virginia. Before the current gas increase, going out to eat, you would pay on par what you would in California. The wages to those who worked there were far less than California. Groceries are higher than California, yet go to SLC and they are less. You have to ship the grocieries further to get them to SLC. The jobs that are here, the factories, and such, are all the unskilled labor type. The best paying jobs are construction. Even those are not paid as well as if you were in Las Vegas. Yet there was just a s big a boom here and the prices being paid for the real estate was just as high as Vegas. A teacher here can't afford to even rent on the pay they make. One Professor at DSC (Dixie State College) quit in the multi media department and took a job a boulevard furniture for $11 an hour since it paid more.

The tax incentives are non exisitant. Also with the increase in water rates in Cedar, your incentives just went out the window and the price to do business when skyrocketing. a friend of mine has a small business, and a few acres behind the buidlings. They do not irragate or water the acreage. Nothing is built on it. Their business doesn't use water other than to drink and wash hand, and flush the toilet. It is a small business. Yet they saw their business water bill go through the sky. Not just the roof. They go hit with an $800 a month increase on the main business, and another $400 a month on the acreage even though it was unused. That is $1200 a month for a small business just for water. Is that business friendly?

Great area, if you can afford it.

[gloster]

We live in So-Cal and although not retired yet are considering moving to southern Utah. When getting information on real estate for sale in Cedar City, I often see new homes for sale that appear to have been on the market for as long as a year. Certainly homes bought by "Flippers".
Although homes in California are worth a lot of money, the owners dont have many options when retiring. They can sit on expensive real estate and struggle to survive on pensions when they do retire, or sell and find somewhere else to live. It does seem to be hard for local people in So Utah to be able to buy a home, due to low wages. But, in OC Cal, a small home costs about $650,000. If I gave a grandson $100,000 to buy a house the mortgage would be about $3000.00 per month with county real estate tax of $6500.00 per year. A lot of younger families are leaving So Cal for this reason alone. I have read that only 10% of people living in OC Cal can afford to buy property. A quite small detached home (1250 Sq ft) will rent for between $1600 to $2400 per mth according to the area.1
The main point of some of the messages I have read is that greed drives our economy. I was in St George for Christmas 2006 and gas prices were $2.45 per gal and in OC Cal prices were $3.05. I returned to St George in June this year gas prices were $3.30, whereas in OC gas was $2.95! How can that possibly be explained with any sense?

Cedar City is a beautiful place to live and we are still looking.

[Blondie-Rabbit]

Just a few days ago impact fees to build a home in Cedar City was raised 116%. They are considering raising the water rates again after raising them over 500% last summer. Cedar compared to St. George would be a better option. Mostly because of the fact that Cedar has diversified industry. It is not all tied to the construction/real eastate market. Therefore when things get worse in St. George, (there is already a slide into an abyss from over building) Cedar will still have jobs. The jobs pay crap, but at least there are jobs. The gas supposedly will get cheaper here in the future because they are building a pipeline from Vegas to SLC. It will have the main switching station in Cedar. Yet if the two families that own all distribution rights to gas in So. Utah have their way, they will still charge more, and make a bigger profit. They found the greed factor and are cashing in.

Don't get me wrong, I love this area. I think it is wonderful to live in, if you can afford it.

[1flower]

Could someone tell me about the water situation in Cedar City, UT? Do most people have wells? If so,what is the water quality, (hard, iron, etc.) and GPM? I've vacationed there many times and would like to retire with our horses, from Idaho.

Thank you.

[Blondie-Rabbit]

Most people are on the municipal water system. As to GPM there are too many different meanings for that anacronym you would have to specify which one. There is a lot of minerals in the water, and generally hard. It is not as bad as Washington county to the south. Be careful though. Sticker shock will hit you on the rates you pay for water. There is a pipeline being built supposedly from Lake Powell to Sand Hollow Resevior near Hurricane Utah. Washington county has seen no increase to pay for it, BUT! Iron county has seen a 500% increase that down from the inital 1200% they tried to push through so that Iron county can pay for the pipe line. Now here comes the reak kicker. Iron county has no guarntee that they will get one drop of the water. They pay for the whole project but will most likely get no water from it. Just like they did when they built Quail Creek Resavoir. There is some very rotten politics going on behind that whole project, and the residents of Iron county are paying big time for it. The last bit of bad news on water is that if you buy property, and you buy the water rights as well, there is no guarntee that you will have water. The new the rights that have been transfered with the property the first to be resinded. Yep you might own them but they are worthless. It has already been said they will take away the rights.

Other than that, If you have the money to pay for the water nonsense, it would be a great place for horses.

[Cedar City Homes]

6 months later I think Cedar City Real Estate is still on its way down. The question should be are interest rates going to stay down as well. If the anwser is no then you should still consider buying if the anwser is yes then hold off. If you want to search Southern Utah real Estate I have found this to be a great site to start at. www.southernutahrealestateagent.com

[Blondie-Rabbit]

MOD CUT of Cedar City, over a year ago told me back then that the real estate market in Cedar was outragous. He couldn't fathom why it had jumped up to double what was reasonable for the economic market of the area. No matter what a real estate agent says, if the price of the house is over inflated horribly, even low interest rates to pay for something you can't afford is not the answer. The new house market has tanked, and locals here who are selling just don't get it. The old addage of "Build it and they will come" is a myth. Rents in Cedar reflect the prices people paid for the over inflated real estate. When a small 1200 or less sq/ft house rents for 1300 to 1500 a month you are paying San Francisco rents in Cedar City you know something is seriously out of whack. I'd offer at least 30% less than the asking price, if not 40%. they may laugh at you now, but a year from now, they won't be laughing.

[UW Badgers]

Hubby and I have thought about moving to either Cedar City or St. George several times. We are in boring Iowa(3 years now), orginally from Wisconsin, which we loved. Job promotion brought us to Iowa, which we hate. We don't like winter anymore.

It's a shame what is going on in these towns, with jobs and housing. We know now we would never make the change unless we won millions in the lottery and didn't have to worry about jobs. We used to drive to Vegas every year and fell in love with these 2 cities. We fly to Vegas now and this past summer we rented a car and drove to St. George to see how we liked it. We noticed those gas prices that have been mentioned in this thread along with the house prices. Years ago when we drove, we always got gas in St. George because it was so cheap. Considering you pretty much have no property taxes, houses should be more reasonable. I understand all that I have read about the housing situation and I think it stinks. Plus, we probably couldn't afford the water bill. Can I ask what it costs? Below I state what we pay.

We bought our house here in Iowa for $106,500. It's 1010sq ft above and 462sq ft in the basement. The basement is fully finished, with a bonus room and bathroom with shower. We could rent it out if we wanted to. Our taxes are about 1500, which is nothing compared to Wisconsin. Our water bill is 75 dollars for 2 months. If we were to sell our house now, we could probably get between $125-130,000 for it. We would never ask for more then that.

I think that it sucks that no big business' are welcomed because of the pay they would offer. Don't the cities want more business, which would bring more money to the city? We have some issues going on here in our city like this over a stupid mall and I can't understand what the city council is doing not allowing business in. It has nothing to do with wages though, I know that.

I also am not saying that Utah isn't a great place to live. We think it's beautiful too, but it's the other stuff that will keep us in the mid-west. We will work are way back to Wisconsin. If we can't have St. George, we'll take going back home and surviving the winters.

I guess we can dream of maybe a time when we could live there without working, but in this day and age, probably won't ever happen and that's too bad.

[sammbols3]

Hello and Happy New Year to you!

I was wondering where in Wisconsin did you live? My husband and I live in Wisconsin, in a small town just about between Appleton and Milwaukee.

Wisconsin is a lovely state, with such diverse landscapes! The bluffs along the western part of the state, along the Mississippi River; the beaches along the eastern side and Lake Michigan; the forests and waterfalls in the northern part of the state; the Kettle Moraine; the prairies...

If only the winters were not so long. It seems like winter starts in November and does not leave until April. The growing season is so short here in Wisconsin! It is highly recommended to NOT do any planting (annuals) until after Memorial Day.

But the people are very, very nice in this state. Friendly and helpful and generous.

Indeed, property taxes are ridiculous. We live in a 1250 sq. ft. condo (it is actually a side-by-side duplex building) and there are a total of 10 units in our condominium association. Our building was put up in 2003. We have a two car garage, small cement patio, and a small patch of yard. Our property tax bill this year was almost $2700!

So, between the insane property taxes, and the long, cold, and grey winters, my husband and I are considering a move out west...to a state where it is a little bit warmer, a little bit more sunny, minimal snow, and way lower property taxes.

We vacationed in Cedar City a few years ago in the fall. The scenery was simply spectacular! The people seemed very nice. We have thought about relocating to the area, but are hesitant because of the religious issues that seem to prevail, along with the water issues. We know that no location is perfect...every place has its advantages and disadvantages. If we do relocate, we would like to be as fully informed as possible. There will always be surprises, but we would like to keep ours to a minimum.

Anyways, UW Badgers, I was just wondering where-a-bouts in Wisconsin you were from. Did you watch the Badgers in the Outback Bowl today? We did.

Have a nice afternoon!

[foster3097]

My husband and I are contemplating buying a business in Cedar city.

Can you tell me what the utilities are for a house (abt. 3000 sq. ft.) Electricity, gas, water, phone, ect...

Is the community welcoming to newcomers? Will we do well in an established business, will people still patronize the business? (We are homeschooling, LDS, moving from CA.)

Thanks!