REALTOR® in Salt Lake City, Utah

A good share of my Salt Lake City work is for clients moving between the city and Davis County in one direction or the other. I grew up just over the border in North Salt Lake, and knowing both sides of that move is most of what makes it go smoothly, because the two markets run on different clocks.

The grid

Salt Lake City is laid out on a grid that starts at the southeast corner of Temple Square downtown. Main Street is the north–south line and South Temple is the east–west line, and every address is really a coordinate: 900 East is nine blocks east of Main. Once you know that, you can find almost anything in the valley.

The blocks are huge, 660 feet on a side, with streets 132 feet wide. The exception is the Avenues, northeast of downtown, where the blocks are smaller, the north–south streets are lettered and the east–west streets are numbered.

Neighborhood by neighborhood

Salt Lake City is less a market than a collection of them, each with its own inventory, buyers and pace:

• The Avenues: on the slope above downtown, with a historic district full of Victorian-era homes
• Sugar House: an older neighborhood with its own small-town business district, Sugar House Park and the S-Line streetcar
• 9th and 9th and 15th and 15th: small, walkable districts named for the intersections they sit on
• Federal Heights and the east bench: up against the foothills near the University of Utah

Most homes in the city were built before World War II. Only a few areas, including Federal Heights, the east bench and parts of the west side, have seen much new construction since the 1970s.

Older homes and inspections

Older housing stock carries the systems and permitting questions that come with age. One worth knowing about is unreinforced brick. Salt Lake City sits on the Wasatch Fault, and when a magnitude 5.7 earthquake hit nearby Magna in 2020, the damage in the city showed up most in historic brick homes.

None of that is a reason to skip an older home. It means the right questions need to be asked before the inspection deadline, not after.

Parks and getting outside

• Liberty Park: one of the oldest parks in the city, from 1881, with a small lake and the Tracy Aviary
• Sugar House Park: 110 acres of rolling hills around a pond
• Memory Grove and City Creek Canyon: a creekside walk up the canyon, starting a few blocks from downtown
• Red Butte Garden: the University of Utah’s botanical garden, which also hosts a summer concert series
• Ensign Peak and the Bonneville Shoreline Trail: foothill hikes with views over the whole valley

Shopping and dining

Downtown has City Creek Center and The Gateway, and Trolley Square is a mall built inside the city’s old trolley barns. A few local institutions:

• Siegfried’s Delicatessen: a German deli and market downtown
• Caputo’s Market & Deli: an Italian market and deli downtown
• Gourmandise: a French bakery and café known for its desserts
• The Dodo: a Sugar House bistro overlooking the park, known for its desserts

Moving between the city and Davis County

Only a handful of roads connect Salt Lake and Davis counties, through the narrow gap between the Great Salt Lake and the mountains, I-15, Legacy Parkway and US-89 among them. FrontRunner commuter rail runs the same corridor from downtown north through Davis County. Which Davis County city works for you depends a lot on which of those you’ll use every day.

The hard part of the move is usually timing two transactions rather than finding the house. I will lay out the sequencing options, including whether a rent-back makes sense, before you list or write, and I can tell you honestly which Davis County city actually matches what you like about your current neighborhood.

Useful local reference: Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park.

Within Salt Lake City, I work specifically in Sugar House , The Avenues , Downtown , Rose Park , Federal Heights , and 9th and 9th . If your street is in one of these, I can tell you what is happening on it specifically.

Working with me in Salt Lake City

Whether you are selling or buying, the work starts the same way, with a real read on your specific street. If you are selling, start with Sell Your Home or go straight to a free Home Valuation. If you are buying, Buy a Home covers how I work.

Licensed Utah REALTOR® since 2015, license 9500608, with CENTURY 21 Everest, rated 5.0 across 73 client ratings.