diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones.go b/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones.go
index e119f9d9e21b..936148dbe532 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones.go
@@ -15,9 +15,5 @@ var hostedZoneIDsMap = map[string]string{
 }
 
 func HostedZoneIDForRegion(region string) string {
-	if region == "" {
-		region = "us-east-1"
-	}
-
 	return hostedZoneIDsMap[region]
 }
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones_test.go
index 3f7818037972..d331a7b8ffb2 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/hosted_zones_test.go
@@ -12,11 +12,6 @@ func TestHostedZoneIDForRegion(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("bad: %s", r)
 	}
 
-	// Empty string should default to us-east-1
-	if r := HostedZoneIDForRegion(""); r != "Z3AQBSTGFYJSTF" {
-		t.Fatalf("bad: %s", r)
-	}
-
 	// Bad input should be empty string
 	if r := HostedZoneIDForRegion("not-a-region"); r != "" {
 		t.Fatalf("bad: %s", r)
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go
index 365521483f00..d550124ef5b8 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_s3_bucket.go
@@ -168,9 +168,7 @@ func resourceAwsS3BucketRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
 	if location.LocationConstraint != nil {
 		region = *location.LocationConstraint
 	}
-	if region == "" {
-		region = "us-east-1"
-	}
+	region = normalizeRegion(region)
 	if err := d.Set("region", region); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -302,11 +300,16 @@ func websiteEndpoint(s3conn *s3.S3, d *schema.ResourceData) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func WebsiteEndpointUrl(bucket string, region string) string {
+	region = normalizeRegion(region)
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s.s3-website-%s.amazonaws.com", bucket, region)
+}
+
+func normalizeRegion(region string) string {
 	// Default to us-east-1 if the bucket doesn't have a region:
 	// http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/RESTBucketGETlocation.html
 	if region == "" {
 		region = "us-east-1"
 	}
 
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%s.s3-website-%s.amazonaws.com", bucket, region)
+	return region
 }