WEBER DAVIS UPDATE: Unlocking opportunity & building community in Northern Utah for more than 40 years

For more than four decades, John W. Hansen has been opening doors in Northern Utah; helping families, local businesses and corporations find a home in the dynamic communities nestled along the Wasatch Front.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

Forty years after starting his local real estate company, John has played a key role in helping major players, such as Intermountain Healthcare, establish a foothold in the area and helped thousands of Utahns build the foundation for a better life with affordable homes close to work and other amenities.

Born in North-ern Utah and raised in Ogden, John has gone far by staying close to home, recognizing the potential of the Weber and Davis counties corridor, as well as local farmland and recreation opportunities.

“There is a lot of employment with government services, the Forest Service, Hill Air Force Base,” said John about the greater Ogden area. “It has a university (Weber State University is based in town) and it’s fairly easy to get around. You’re not in a big, congested city area.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in psychology from Brigham Young University, John spent eight years teaching seminary before a summer job selling property sparked his interest in the real estate business.

Starting out as a one-man show in 1983, John founded John W. Hansen & Associates. Two years later he added two other agents and an office manager. Since then, the company has steadily added staff and today employs 30 people, many of whom have worked with John for 25 years or more.

Growth Hub

John’s early faith in Northern Utah has been richly rewarded. Located close to major road, rail and air hubs and home to a large pool of skilled workers, the area continues to attract both high-quality employers and families seeking dependable jobs and a great standard of living.

Ogden has long been home to a major federal tax processing facility, which the Internal Revenue Service has continued to expand. The center now employs more than 6,500 people to process business returns from more than a third of the country. USPS and the U.S. Forestry Service are also large, well-established local employers.

More recently, Northrop Grumman has announced plans to expand its solid rocket motor manufacturing program at its extensive facilities near Hill Air Force Base, south of Ogden, adding at least 3,000 more jobs to its already large local presence, while logistics giants like FedEx, Amazon and others are continuing to invest in warehousing space in the area.

Anchor investments like these have driven strong population growth, with Davis County, on the Ogden-Salt Lake City corridor, adding more than 200,000 residents in the years since John Hansen opened shop, with Weber County, home to Ogden itself, growing by more than 110,000.

John has been front and center in finding homes for those newcomers and for making sure they have the amenities they need. John W. Hansen & Associates was instrumental in helping Intermountain Healthcare secure land for its new hospital in central Ogden.

“They were on 29 acres — we got them 60,” John recalls. “My partner and I bought that for them and they are there now — that was a great addition to our community,” he said, referring to IHC’s thriving health services campus off Ogden’s Harrison Boulevard, another major source of local employment.

Building Demand

John W. Hansen & Associates has also been involved in developing several major office complexes in both Weber and Davis counties. “I’ve developed over 100,000 square feet of office space around town,” said John proudly, while he estimates the company as a whole has handled over 20,000 local property transactions over the years.

And while John W. Hansen & Associates remains a major player in local residential and commercial listing and property management, it is the company’s focus on property development to meet the burgeoning demand for Front Range housing that has set it apart from other real estate operations.

“We create a lot of our own product — that’s different,” John notes, when asked what distinguishes John W. Hansen & Associates as a business. “Residential, commercial, industrial — I have created a lot of product for my agents to sell.”

That ability to put listings on the map rather than waiting for inventory to open up puts John W. Hansen & Associates on the front foot in the local market, but it means playing ball with a wide range of development partners from engineers and contractors to title companies and local financial providers.

And, while a realty operation the size of John W. Hansen & Associates needs to work with a wide variety of financial partners, John particularly values the company’s long-time association with Wasatch Peaks Credit Union.

Wasatch Peaks Partnership

“I got acquainted with (Wasatch Peaks President) Jeff Shaw. I helped with the purchase of their home office on Harrison and I’ve sold other properties for them. They are very fair and very competitive and they have done a great job loaning money.”

Since then, Wasatch Peaks has provided day-to-day business banking services, including loans and lines of credit, to allow John W. Hansen & Associates to expand to meet soaring demand for local property as families have sought affordable, high-quality housing in the Beehive State.

Wasatch Peaks has also been a valuable partner as John W. Hansen & Associates has expanded its portfolio across the whole region, providing local financial knowledge to match John’s unrivaled grasp of the Northern Utah property landscape.

That partnership has included both direct financing for John W. Hansen & Associates projects as well as innovative mortgage products to help prospective buyers finance their purchases.

And while John appreciates the close relationship he has developed with Wasatch Peaks over the years, it’s a partnership that would not have endured if the credit union were not able to provide industry-leading services at every stage of the game.

“Wasatch Peaks is great because they are local and competitive,” the veteran Realtor said.

Community Focus

Beyond that, however, both companies are motivated also by a deep commitment to service to people in the local community.

“You have to believe what you are doing is a benefit to the community. If you don’t believe your profession is valuable, then you’re not going to do much,” explains John.

It is a belief that has helped John build a company dedicated to “connecting families to their dreams, businesses to their futures and agents to opportunities.”

As a community-based lender, Wasatch Peak is driven by the same desire to connect people to the tools they need to build a better life through financial education, low-cost services, affordable loans and mortgages and personalized service.

Forty years into his career, John knows that rich local opportunities still abound. Northern Utah remains a magnet for companies and families looking to work hard, live smart, and play hard. And, while John’s son Marc has taken over the day-to-day running of the business, John still works every day with no plans to retire.

Asked if it is true that he has never turned down a listing, he is quick to respond with a smile: “That’s true today!”

That work ethic, and John’s unshakeable focus on family, home and opportunity, guide both John W. Hansen & Associates and Wasatch Peak Credit Union today, and look set to continue to inspire them for the next 40 years.{/mprestriction}