The two cities sit right next to each other in north Utah County, so the choice mostly comes down to the kind of home and setting you want. Alpine is the smaller city, tucked farther up into the mountains, and in Micah’s view it has more expensive custom homes. Highland also has nice homes, but…
Shorter than most people expect. Once you’re on I-15, Micah puts the drive from Spanish Fork or Salem to Silicon Slopes at under half an hour. Most of Spanish Fork and Salem have pretty fast access to I-15. In Spanish Fork, Highway 6 is the main fast connector. In Salem, the newer Loafer Mountain Parkway…
Yes. When a builder cuts prices in a development, homes that sold there for more in the past can lose value. Appraisers rely on recent nearby sales, and the most comparable sales to your home are often the builder’s own new homes in the same community. A lower sale price becomes a comp the next…
Generally, single-family homes, because more Utah buyers want them. In Micah’s experience, most Utah buyers would prefer a single-family home in the long run. Many people who buy a townhome do it because they want to stop renting and a single-family home isn’t in their budget yet. A smaller group chooses a townhome on purpose,…
Usually nothing, because most Utah builder incentive deadlines are about when you go under contract, not when the home is finished. In Micah’s experience, a builder only sets a required close-by date when it already knows the home will be done by then, typically standing inventory or a home that’s finished or nearly finished. For…
In Micah’s experience, most people who sell first end up staying with a family member while the new home is finished. Some of his clients have used an Airbnb. When Micah went through it himself, he rented a place on a six-month lease with an option to extend, in case the build ran long. Any…
Often, yes. A third-car garage is one of the structural upgrades Micah tells buyers are worth paying for, because it’s hard or impossible to add after the home is built. Flooring, countertops and paint can wait. Garage size can’t. An RV pad is useful even if you don’t own an RV. It gives you extra…
Judge each package against what you’d pay to buy and install the same items yourself. Blinds are often a good deal. On Micah’s own recent DR Horton purchase, the builder quoted about $1,500 for blinds in every window except the sliding glass doors. That was about what he’d have paid to buy and install them…
A cottage home is a small detached single-family home on a small lot. Builders use the name for compact homes in higher-density parts of a community. A zero-lot-line home is built right at or very near one side property line, so the side yard is on the other side. Both give you a detached home…
Flex cash is a flat-dollar incentive, for example “$15,000 to use your way,” that you can direct toward a rate buydown, your closing costs, or sometimes the price. Ask the builder which uses it allows. The smartest use is whichever one lowers your monthly payment the most for how long you expect to keep the…
Both are south Utah County cities where you generally get more house for the money, a wider selection and bigger lots than closer to Silicon Slopes. They also had similar amounts of new construction: 93 active MLS new-construction listings in Spanish Fork and 96 in Salem in an August 2026 count. The choice is mostly…
These are neighboring north Utah County cities, so the choice usually comes down to commute, the kind of new home you want, and the HOA fee on the specific listing. American Fork is the more central of the two. It’s about 10 minutes to Point of the Mountain and Silicon Slopes and about 15 minutes…