Living in Ridge at St George

Ridge at St George sits off Northridge Avenue in central St. George. Bluff Street and Dixie Drive are close, so most errands are a short hop, not a drive across town. This is a condominium community, so you are buying a unit and a location. You are not buying a big lot and a yard to take care of.

The community was not built all at once. The county's plat records (the recorded maps of the lots) show thirteen phases, built in order from 1984 (Phase A) to 2005 (Phase M). Most of the buildings went up in the 1980s and early 1990s. That matters when you compare units: an older phase and a newer one can differ in layout, finishes and condition, even though they share the community name.

For a buyer, the catch is a smaller space than a detached home. In return you get less outside upkeep and a central spot. For a seller, the sales to compare against should come from the same phase and a similar unit size. Any home with the Ridge at St George name is not enough.

Ridge at St George is a condominium community, not a subdivision of detached homes on individual lots. Most units went up in the 1980s and early 1990s, in stages. A unit in an earlier phase and one in a later phase can differ in floor plan and finish, even though both share the same community address.

Few units sell in a community this size, so I look at the homes for sale right now and the latest sales instead of an old published average. Unit size, phase, floor level and whether the unit has been updated all move the number more than the community name does.

If you are weighing a detached home elsewhere in St. George against a unit here, think of them as two different kinds of homes. Less outside upkeep and a central spot come with a smaller space. That only makes sense if it fits how you want to live.

Times are estimated, measured from near Northridge Avenue, the street the community sits on. Check the drive from your exact unit, since a few blocks can change it by a minute or two.

Ridge at St George is in the Washington County School District. Grades are split into four levels: elementary (K-5), intermediate (6-7), middle (8-9) and high (10-12). The district generally lists Heritage Elementary (K-5), Dixie Middle (8-9) and Dixie High (10-12) for this area. All three are listed as open schools on its site. Check the intermediate school (grades 6-7), and everything else, with the district before you rely on it.

Boundaries can change, so check the current assignment for your exact unit with the district instead of assuming. For outside school data, GreatSchools and Niche both publish numbers you can weigh yourself.

Its many phases set Ridge at St George apart from most single-phase subdivisions I cover. Washington County's plat records show thirteen recorded phases, lettered A through M. County records show the homes built in order from 1984 (Phase A) to 2005 (Phase M), most of them in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In practice, this is not one uniform set of homes built in a single year. A unit in an earlier phase can sit right next to one from a later phase with a different layout or finish. When someone asks me to price a unit here, I first find its phase. Then I look at sales in that phase and of similar unit sizes, not at the community as a whole.

Nothing here is still being built, so every unit is a resale. That is worth knowing whether you are buying into an early phase or a late one.