Salt Lake City Real Estate

From the mountains to the valley, there are many types of Salt Lake City real estate to choose from.

Cabins:

Cabins nestled into the mountains on the east side of the Salt Lake Valley are a great place to escape for those who have a home in the valley (or nearby). Besides providing a getaway spot, cabins can be an investment.

Many come to ski at one of Utah's many resorts. Some will stay at the resort itself, while others would like to relax a few miles away from the resort in a cabin. Buying a cabin as an investment may be a good idea, if you have the money for a long-term investment. There are some tax repercussions if you rent out the cabin, so be aware of that. You will also have to clean the cabin between visitors, or pay someone to clean it for you.

If you are relocating:

There is a lot to do in or near Salt Lake City. You can hike and ski in the nearby mountains, or attend one of Salt Lake's excellent theatres. But before you are able to settle down and enjoy Salt Lake City, you'll want to find a place to live.

Salt Lake City real estate/residential:

Like most other cities, Salt Lake City offers a variety of residential real estate. The city has apartments, small homes, and luxury homes. There are not many lots for sale within the city itself, but there is still a lot of room for growth in Salt Lake's suburbs.

To the west and southwest of Salt Lake there are several new and developing communities where you can get a great buy on a new home. If you aren't interested in a new home, there are many nice homes that have been around for a few years, and others (while still nice) have been around for ages.

Of course, you will have your own preference as to the age of your house. There are other things that will help you make a good decision on the area you choose to live in. A real estate agent will be able to help you find a neighborhood with a low crime rate that is located close to a good elementary, middle, or high school.

If you are relocating you will also want to consider that Salt Lake City is in the process of expanding its public transportation, mainly light rail. If you are interested in using public transportation you may want to move close to the light rail.

Salt Lake City real estate/commercial:

Salt Lake offers many types of office space. There are buildings where you can lease one office, or a whole floor for your company. If you are relocating your business to Salt Lake City, or if your business is already in Salt Lake, but you are expanding, there are several real estate agencies that specialize in commercial real estate.

Finding real estate:

You can look for both commercial and residential real estate in Salt Lake City's two most popular newspapers, The Deseret News, and The Salt Lake Tribune. You can also contact a realtor who specializes in Salt Lake City real estate.

Inside Real Estate in a network entirely devoted to real estate information. Our staff of nationwide writers has provided a library of over 25,000 real estate articles. Inside-Real-Estate covers several topics from the basic "how to's" of real estate to city specific real estate information.

The 1960s Buff & Hensman-designed Wong House has a pool, a walled garden and downtown and ocean views.

It seems as though actress Scarlett Johansson had no sooner sold her old place in the Hollywood Hills than she and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, closed on a house in Los Feliz for $2.9 million.

Completed a few years ago, a Normandy-style estate was built to look a century old.

Glen and Linda Keane felt guilty about tearing down the O'Melveny family home. After all, John O'Melveny was part of a group of Los Angeles businessmen who formed Lake Arrowhead Co. in the 1920s and oversaw the lake's development into a popular resort destination.

The mortgage giant quietly launches the HomePath program, which offers subprime-era terms for buyers: minimal down payments, no appraisals, no mortgage insurance and lower minimum credit scores.

If you're a buyer with little cash or a small-scale investor looking for a deal on a foreclosed house, a little-publicized national lending program could be just what you need this fall.

How some of our previously featured properties have fared in the sales market.

Buff & Hensman-designed beach house

Lenders lose an estimated $310 million annually in undervalued short-sale transactions, according to a study released in August.

Question: I am fed up with my homeowners association and successive boards for sabotaging owner requests for records and refusing to fix maintenance problems in common areas that directly affect individual units. I believe I have no other choice than to sue the association and the boards. What are the steps I have to take?

Keeping tenant out over concerns of illegal activities may be viewed as a 'constructive eviction.' Such moves as changing the locks to prevent access can bring significant penalties.

Question: I own a couple of houses that I rent out for extra income. Unfortunately, they are not in the best part of our town. I have a tenant living in one of them who may be dealing drugs or doing something else illegal because the police have arrested him several times. Every time he is arrested he makes bail and returns to the house in a day or so. Even though he pays the rent on time, I realize that I can't continue to allow him to live in my house. My plan is to change the locks the next time he is arrested, so he can't come back into the house. I know that I need to protect his property inside the house if I do this, but my plan is to move his belongings into a storage locker. I can't afford a lawyer to file an eviction case, so this is my only alternative. Will I be OK if I do this?

July's increase from June in the National Assn. of Realtors' gauge for previously owned residences follows two straight months of declines and a report that sales of such homes dived 27.2%.

An index of home purchase contracts for previously owned dwellings unexpectedly increased 5.2% in July over June, the National Assn. of Realtors said Thursday, a modest note of good news for the U.S. housing market.

Treasury bond yields, which influence the home-loan rates, have surged since Tuesday.

Mortgage rates fell for the 10th time in 11 weeks, setting fresh record lows, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. But a rebound in Treasury yields in the last two days raises the possibility that home-loan interest costs won't fall again next week.

The home builder's stock soars 11% after an announcement that there will be no action taken as result of an investigation into the company's accounting procedures.

Shares of Los Angeles-based KB Home soared on Wednesday after the home builder said an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the company's accounting and disclosure procedures had concluded and no enforcement action would be taken.