The documented case is West Provo, not Saratoga Springs or Vineyard — there are homes near Utah Lake in West Provo that can’t have basements at all because of groundwater, tied to Utah’s 500-year floodplain permitting rules that restrict certain building types close to the lake. Some homes in that area include a sump pump…
A Utah new home’s structural warranty is worth understanding closely, because the numbers behind it are bigger than most buyers assume: the average structural warranty claim nationally runs around $42,500, but in Utah it’s more than double that, at roughly $113,000, largely because of the state’s soil conditions. The typical structure is a 1-year builder…
In parts of Utah County, yes — but the eligible boundaries are more specific than most buyers assume, and they’ve shifted over time. Roughly a third of Utah County is currently ineligible for a USDA no-down-payment loan, since USDA rural loans are reserved for areas below a certain population threshold. Cities like Santaquin, Spanish Fork,…
Generally, yes — homeowners insurance on a new construction home in Utah tends to run cheaper than on a comparable resale home, mainly because a newer roof, newer systems, and proximity discounts (like being near a fire hydrant) all factor into the premium. Some research suggests new construction can run up to roughly twice as…
Yes — new construction in Utah is built to a modern seismic building code, and the Wasatch Front does carry a real, well-documented earthquake risk, with roughly a 43% chance of a magnitude 6.75 or greater earthquake somewhere along the fault in the next 50 years. Most new construction along the Wasatch Front falls under…
Finding an actual negative slope toward the house on a new construction lot in Utah is rare. Cities are strict during the permitting process about how grading has to be finished, and they won’t issue a certificate of occupancy unless it’s done correctly. Many HOAs add their own requirement on top of that — typically…
An extended rate lock simply means the lender locks in your interest rate even though you’re more than the usual 45 days out from closing on your loan — which matters on new construction, since the build itself can take longer than a standard resale closing timeline. It typically costs a bit more than a…
No — a Utah builder’s advertised rate buydown is priced for an owner-occupied purchase using either an FHA or conventional owner-occupied loan. A second home or investment property doesn’t qualify for that pricing. You may be able to get a builder to apply the same rate buydown structure on a non-owner-occupied purchase, but you’ll be…
It genuinely depends on how much work the resale home needs, and the honest answer is you can’t run this comparison in the abstract — you have to know the actual resale you’re looking at. Comparing homes of the same size, finishing a basement in new construction can run around $50,000, and landscaping can add…
It comes back to the incentive you can get on the resale, not just the age of the home. If you find an existing home in the neighborhood you want — say, seven years old, with a finished basement, finished landscaping, and a fenced yard — it’s worth writing an offer that asks the seller…
Very few Utah HOAs restrict you from renting out a single-family home. Some builders will ask upfront whether you plan to occupy the home yourself or buy it as an investor, and in a particularly hot seller’s market they’ll sometimes restrict sales to owner-occupants — but in the current market, that hasn’t been a common…
Start with the area, lifestyle, and commute — not the builder or the house — and give that its own several months before you ever narrow to a specific home. Choosing where you want to live in Utah takes real time, whether you’re flying in to tour communities yourself or working with an agent who…