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Salt Lake City Homes & Condos: Making an Offer on Real Estate in Utah

Once you find a Salt Lake City home or condo that you find appealing, it's time to make a written offer. Your Salt Lake City Realtor can pull up recently sold homes from the Wasatch Front MLS that are similar too and near the home you like, in order to determine the value of the home.

He can also check the market activity and determine what he can about the Seller's situation. With this information you can come up with a negotiation strategy.

You're already pre-approved for the mortgage and it would be wise to get a pre-approval letter to accompany the offer.

Next, a contract will be written with all of the other necessary documents including a Buyer-Broker Agreement & Agency Disclosure, Buyer due diligence checklist, addendums and possibly other documents. At the time of writing the offer, the Buyer will need to write an earnest money check. This check will be used as part of the down payment if the offer is accepted and the sale closes. The earnest money check is deposited soon after the contract is accepted by both Buyer and Seller.

Earnest money is negotiable and varies. About 1% of the purchase price is a good rule of thumb for the purchase of an existing single family home or condo in Utah, but again it's negotiable. Earnest money is used to assure the Seller that the Buyer is serious about the purchase. Without earnest money, there would be less incentive for the Buyer & Seller to perform the terms of the Real Estate Purchase Contract (REPC).

There are specific contingencies in the Utah REPC that make the earnest money refundable to the Buyer if the Buyer stays within the agreed to deadlines negotiated in the REPC for that contingency. The standard contingencies are Seller's Disclosures, Due Diligence and Financing & Appraisal. So if you operate within the contract and you have an issue that can't be worked out, like the appraisal coming in below purchase price, the buyer can get their earnest money back. Again, the Buyer and Seller must operate within the terms that have been negotiated in the REPC.

A buyer should never enter into a contract lightly. If you're making an offer, make sure you are ready, willing, & able to buy the Salt Lake City home or condo you are bidding. The contingencies are there just in case it doesn't work out and are specific.

So, the REPC and other supporting documentation is written and the earnest money is with the agent. The Buyer's agent now conveys the offer to the Seller's agent and the negotiation begins.

If your plan is to move from one home to another, just putting your home on the market isn’t enough. Your home will need to be ready to show and you’ll need a strategy to accomplish the sale and purchase of another home in a reasonable time frame.

With 10 years selling homes in metro Salt Lake and 20 years in the real estate business, I have many strategies and an in depth understanding of what it takes to help you sell and buy another home. Call or email me if you’d like to take advantage of this opportunity!

Contact SLCHomeBuyer and Kevin Coyle

Utah Real Estate and Making an Offer