Buying a Home in Bloomington: A Buyer's Guide

Bloomington is St. George's original planned community, laid out by Terracor in the late 1960s and early 1970s along the Virgin River on the south side, around the private Bloomington Country Club. Buying here is a specific proposition, and it is not the same one on offer anywhere else in the region.

What makes it different: you are largely unregulated

Much of Bloomington has little or no HOA. In a region where architectural committees are close to standard, that is genuinely unusual and it is the main reason people choose here.

Practically, it means you can park an RV or a boat on your own property, paint your house the color you want, plant what you like, and build a shed or a workshop without seeking approval from a committee. For a certain kind of buyer, that is worth more than any amenity package.

Verify it for the actual address, though. "Bloomington has no HOA" is true of much of it and not all of it, and the adjacent Bloomington Ranches is a different proposition again — acre-plus horse properties with their own considerations.

The land, and the trees

Large lots are the other draw — many a quarter-acre and up. And Bloomington has one of the best mature tree canopies in the region.

That deserves emphasis in a desert city: shade cannot be purchased. A tree that shades a house in July represents fifty years of growth and irrigation. New developments will have this in decades; Bloomington has it now, and it measurably reduces what a summer costs.

The corollary is that established landscaping is a responsibility. The irrigation keeping mature trees alive is not optional maintenance, and losing a fifty-year-old tree to a failed drip line is not recoverable in any useful timeframe.

The honest catch: the housing is old

Homes here largely date from the 1970s and 1980s. In this climate that means specific things at inspection:

• Cooling systems — age and capacity. A marginal unit is a summer emergency here, not an inconvenience.
• Roofs, which age faster under severe UV than they would anywhere cooler.
• Plumbing and electrical of their era, and irrigation systems that may predate current practice.
• Original single-pane glazing in some homes, which drives summer costs hard.

None of this is a reason to avoid Bloomington. It is a reason to inspect thoroughly and price the work honestly rather than be surprised. Add a radon test to the scope while you are at it; readings vary house to house, so a neighbor's clean result tells you nothing about the one you are buying. What to inspect on a desert home covers the priorities.

Who it suits

Well: buyers who want space and autonomy; anyone with vehicles, boats or projects to store; people who value mature landscaping; buyers comfortable maintaining an older house.

Less well: anyone wanting current construction and a warranty; buyers who want a maintained, uniform neighborhood look; people who would rather not manage a large lot.

Afterwards

On an established street where houses change hands after decades, the tax figure a previous owner paid is a poor guide to yours: assessed value resets on sale, and the residential exemption does not travel with the deed. File for it with the Washington County Assessor in your first weeks rather than waiting to see whether it appears on a bill. See Utah's 45% residential exemption.