Buying Before You Sell in Park City and Heber
Program and regulatory figures verified September 25, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
The typical Heber home is already above the conforming ceiling. That single fact reorders every part of a buy-before-you-sell plan in Summit and Wasatch counties.
The median is jumbo
Summit and Wasatch counties get a 2026 one-unit conforming limit of $1,150,000, which is $317,250 above the $832,750 that applies in Salt Lake County. That sounds like generous headroom until you put Heber's typical home value next to it: $1,151,512 as of August 2026.
The typical transaction sits roughly $1,500 over the line. And Heber rose 3.7% year over year, the fastest of any Utah metro we track, so the gap is opening rather than closing.
What changes above the line
Agency financing comes with a published rulebook for the home you are leaving. Fannie Mae B3-3.8-05 sets the offset, the documentation and the reserve requirement in writing. Above the conforming limit those are replaced by individual investor guidelines, and three differences show up repeatedly:
- Reserve requirements are deeper, and the departing residence adds its own on top.
- Some investors will not remove the departing payment from the ratio until the sale actually funds, regardless of contract status.
- The planned exit on the departing home gets underwritten rather than assumed.
The practical result is that carrying both payments and recasting after the sale is often the most reliable structure here, because it does not depend on an investor accepting a rental offset. See the structures page and the jumbo page.
The one-acre limit, which matters here and almost nowhere else
Utah Code 59-2-103(5) allows no more than one acre of land per residential unit to qualify for the residential exemption. On a Wasatch Front quarter-acre lot this never comes up. On mountain parcels in Summit and Wasatch counties it often does, and the land above one acre is assessed without the 45% reduction.
If you are moving from a small lot to acreage, or between two larger parcels, that changes the tax line in the payment. Detail on the exemption page.
The tax argument is largest here
The 45% reduction is a percentage, so its dollar value scales with the home. On a $1,151,512 departing residence, losing the reduction during an overlap is the biggest version of that cost anywhere in Utah. That makes the tenant exception in 59-2-103(6)(b)(ii) most valuable in exactly the market where it is least often considered. See the tenant exception page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the conforming loan limit in Summit and Wasatch counties for 2026?
$1,150,000 on one unit and $1,472,250 on two units. Both counties sit in CBSA 25720. That is $317,250 above the $832,750 baseline that applies in Salt Lake County.
Is a typical Heber or Park City purchase a jumbo loan?
At the typical Heber value it is. Zillow put Heber's typical home value at $1,151,512 in August 2026 against a $1,150,000 county ceiling, so the median transaction is roughly $1,500 above the conforming line, and values rose 3.7% year over year.
Why does jumbo financing complicate buying before selling?
Because the published departing-residence rules in Fannie Mae B3-3.8-05 are agency guidelines. Jumbo investors set their own, tend to require deeper reserves, and some will not remove the departing payment from your ratio until the sale funds. Carrying both payments with a later recast is often the more reliable structure above the line.
Does Utah's residential exemption cover a large mountain lot?
Only the first acre. Utah Code 59-2-103(5) limits the exemption to no more than one acre of land per residential unit, so acreage above that is assessed without the 45% reduction. This comes up regularly on parcels in Summit and Wasatch counties.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or real estate advice. Utah's residential exemption is administered county by county under Utah Code 59-2-103.5, and eligibility depends on your facts; your county assessor, your CPA or a Utah attorney, and your real estate agent each handle their own part. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.