Living in Westgate Hills

Westgate Hills sits on the Green Springs hill on the west edge of Washington City, up above the Green Spring Golf Course and reached off Green Spring Drive. You come in through the gate and climb North Westgate Hills Drive as the ground rises. The higher you go, the more the valley opens up behind you.

It looks and feels different from the flatter Washington Fields subdivisions south of the river. Up here the homes are large and custom and the lots are wide. The view is the point: the fairways below, Pine Valley Mountain to the northwest, and the red cliffs that ring this side of town. Everyday errands are still close. The Red Cliffs Drive shopping is a few minutes down the hill, I-15 at Exit 10 is right there, and downtown St. George is a straight twelve-minute drive.

Here, the view and the finishes drive the price. Two homes inside the same gate can be priced a world apart. It depends on where they sit on the slope and how well the custom build was done. Before you fall for any one house, work out what it sees and how it was built. That is the most useful thing you can do up here.

Westgate Hills is a newer subdivision, and every home is high-end. Most went in from 2010 forward, with an average build year near 2017. They are large: the median floor plan runs above 6,000 square feet, and the median lot sits near two-thirds of an acre. These are custom builds, so the architecture and finishes vary from house to house, down to the framing of the great room and the size of the garage. Many were designed with walkout basements and oversized or RV garages. That suits the slope and the Southern Utah habit of hauling toys like boats and ATVs.

Price is where the hillside really shows. Recent Washington County MLS sales inside the gate have generally run from the low $2 millions up past $7 million. That is not one price with a little noise around it. It is a real spread, and it follows the view and how nice the finishes are more than the square footage alone. A home on the upper rim has an open sweep of the golf course and Pine Valley Mountain. It is priced differently than a home a few lots down that sits lower on the slope.

That is why I look at it lot by lot. Buyers, look at where the specific home sits on the hill and what it actually sees. Then look at how well the custom build was done before you judge the number. Sellers, do the same before you pick the recent sales to compare against. Check everything against the live listings, because with so few homes selling, the right three recent sales of similar homes matter more than any average.

Westgate Hills is part of the Washington County School District, and it goes to the Pine View schools. Homes up here on the Green Springs hill generally go to Sandstone Elementary (grades K-5) at 850 North 2450 East. Grades 6 and 7 go to Pine View Intermediate on Mall Drive, which used to be called Fossil Ridge. Grades 8 and 9 go to Pine View Middle School, and grades 10 to 12 go to Pine View High School. Students here go on to the same schools as much of the east-side Washington and St. George border area.

Boundaries can shift as this side of the valley grows. Check the current assignment for any home you are serious about with the district instead of guessing from a map. For outside school data, GreatSchools and Niche both publish numbers you can weigh yourself. Dixie Technical College and Utah Tech University are both a short drive down into St. George.

In Westgate Hills, the view is what you are buying. Homes sit on a slope. Where a lot is on the hill decides what a home sees, and what it sees decides a large share of what it is worth. A home on the upper rim has an open sweep of the golf course, Pine Valley Mountain, and the red cliffs. A home a few doors down that sits lower may look into the hillside or a neighbor's roofline, and it is worth something different.

On top of that comes the custom build. These are one-off houses. The framing of the great room, the ceiling heights, and the kitchen and primary suite all vary from one address to the next. So do the garage and the outdoor living. Two homes of similar square footage can be far apart in price on finishes alone. Put the view and the finishes together and you get the real spread you see in the sales history.

I treat the lot and the view as part of the price from the start, not an afterthought. I walk the specific rim before I quote a number. I would rather stand in the great room at the hour the light matters than trust a listing photo.