As a young boy, amidst the dreams of traveling the globe, winning the World Series, and flying in a rocket to the moon, I always had the goal of owning a home and giving my family a place of peace and security to enjoy being together and making memories that could be passed on for generations. Housing and real estate are an integral part of the “American Dream” and the biggest purchase we will make in our lives. Part of the dream of home ownership is that your home can not only be your place for memories, but also an investment. As with any investment, we need to be able to rely on and partner with professionals to help us to understand how to protect it from losses.

2020 has been an extraordinary year that will not be forgotten. Home sales in Utah are more competitive than I have seen in my 14 years in the industry.As of the writing of this article, UtahRealEstate.com states that there are 3,974 homes for sale in Utah, but there are currently 9,780 homes under contract/or accepting backup offers!Let’s put that into perspective – there are 2.5 times more houses that are in the process of changing hands than are currently up for sale.

Whenever you formally make an offer to purchase a home, it is customary to pay an earnest money deposit. This is a sum of money showing the seller your good faith that you are going to adhere to the terms of the contract and purchase the property.

It is important to understand exactly how your earnest money is handled between you and the seller. I will answer the most common questions I receive from my clients in order to help you to be better informed as to:

• What is the purpose of your earnest money and what does it represents in the process of purchasing your next property?

• Who should you pay your earnest money to?

• How do you protect your earnest money deposit?

• Under what conditions and when do you get your earnest money back?

Let me set the scene… you have gone through all the preparations to declutter your home, patch the walls, paint over the crayon marks from the kids, replace the carpet where your puppy first experimented with what the difference is between tile, carpet, and grass, and you followed your Realtor’s advice and placed half of your possessions into storage - which felt like moving, but ended up being a relief in the end. Your Realtor hosted an open house, you left the home 9 times for your home to be shown, and finally you accepted the offer. Whew! And, just as you wipe your brow and pat yourself on the back, your Realtor calls to tell you that the buyers have scheduled the home inspection for this coming Thursday. Thoughts like, “What will the inspector find that I don’t know about?” enter your mind. You wake up at 2:00 in the morning thinking about all the things you need to do to make sure your home passes the inspection.

Two months ago, I was speaking to a friend who told me that he just signed a contract to finish his basement. He then gave me a punch in the arm and chuckled, “The best part is the contractors told me that I can save about $2,500 dollars and about a month of time if they just start the work now and don’t wait for the city to issue a permit.”

I immediately put my hands up and told him to stop, call his contractor, and pull the permits with the city. I then went on to explain why…

The end of summer is quickly approaching. The mountains are full of color as the leaves change from green to red and yellow, and your mailbox should have received your Wasatch or Utah County Property Tax notice. Unless you are like 75% of the people out there that determine that it is not a bill and file it away, never to be seen again…

I am going to implore you to dig that envelope out and take a second look at the following 3 key points you should consider:

Over the past 14 years, I have had the opportunity to work with several successful real estate investors in Salt Lake City, Utah County, Midway, and Heber City, Utah. Together, we have viewed and evaluated hundreds of multi-family homes, condotels, commercial buildings, nightly rental opportunities, and of course, single family residences. Although each of these real estate investors has their own formula for success that they have refined through their experience, there is a commonality that exists between all of them that I am going to share with you today.

Flashback to February, 2020… On paper, the US economic picture was at historic highs with the top economic indicators of inflation, low unemployment, strong housing demand, consumer spending, and high consumer confidence all seemingly to be “unstoppable forces”. How then, with what seemed like a blink of an eye, did the Coronavirus which we will deem as the global “immovable object” cause the economy to drop to its knees; and more specifically, did this break the housing and mortgage market and how can it be fixed?

With easy access to see homes on the internet, it is becoming commonplace for both buyers and sellers to believe they can save a few dollars by handling the searching, marketing, negotiating, and legal process of making the biggest purchases of their lives by themselves. Sounds crazy when you put it that way – doesn’t it? Add the new normal of social distancing to the equation, and I ask, as a seller, how should you safely market your home? As a buyer, how do you keep yourself safe when you go out to see homes. These are valid concerns and just a few of the reasons that hiring a licensed Realtor should be THE secret to your success.

One of the first questions a homeowner asks when I am preparing to list a home is, “How much do you think I can sell my house for?”  Usually before I can answer, they follow up the question with a statement something like, “because I was looking on Zillow and it says…”  Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but you can’t believe everything that you see on the internet. 

If you’ve been following the news, a lot is happening within our economy both nationally and locally. In fact, in a Presidential election year with an incumbent up for reelection, the economy typically soars. Nationally, (according to Bloomberg) existing home sales are at the highest the country has seen since early 2018.

The questions to ask when buying a condo found below are something every buyer should consider when purchasing this type of housing. I would be willing to bet that many of these questions are nothing that many buyers would have ever thought to ask. After reading I am sure you will agree they are super important!

Last week I pulled out of my driveway and started driving down the street to find one of my neighbors homes was put up for sale – and I did not have the listing!  In all fairness, my neighbors are renting the home and I do not know the owner….that being said, I was still shocked to see that the home was overpriced by at least $70,000!  Why, oh why would the agent take this listing after knowing that even if they received a full price offer, there is not a chance the property would appraise for the sales price? 

One of the first questions I hear when I am approached by people wanting to sell their home is, “How much do you think my home is worth,” shortly followed by, “and how quickly do you think I can sell it”.  After a few minutes of conversation, many say something to the effect of, “You sure know your stuff! We will get in contact with you if selling it ourselves doesn’t work out”. 

Let me set the stage. You have gone through all the steps to prepare your home to sell. We listed your pride and joy and put it up for scrutiny to the masses. Strangers have walked through your halls just after you vacuumed and carted the kids off to the park for the ninth time in the past week. And then, as a family, you sit and wait again for my call telling you the feedback from the showing of your home – crossing your fingers for an offer.

“Congratulations,” I say, “We received an offer of $345,000 which is $5,000 less than your asking price. The only condition the buyer requests is that you pay their closing costs.”

“What? Aren’t they the ones buying my house?” you say, “Why would I have to pay for their fees to close?”

This is the part of the sale that frustrates sellers more than anything else. Should the buyer even ask the seller to pay their closing costs?

As I was researching the price of lots in the Heber City and Utah County areas for myself and several clients, I came across this map which displays the rising land prices across the United States over the past 40 years. The data was taken from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison). The map was provided by Howmuch.net.

Recently I met with a client who could not believe that the new carpet and windows they had installed in their home was not giving them an increase in their home’s value over the rest of the comparable sales in the neighborhood.  I had to explain that routine home maintenance, such as replacing carpet, worn out plumbing, or staining on the deck are expected features within a home.  I went on to describe how projects that add additional functional space can be a wise investment and often do add value to the home, however other projects allow little opportunity to recover the costs when it comes time to sell.

The kids are out of school.  The days are longer.  The weather is warm and the air smells of freshly cut grass, lavender, and cherry blossoms.  Ahh…the summer in Utah has arrived! 

There are very few communities in the country that can compare to the unique mountain valley that includes Midway and Heber City, Utah.  With world class skiing, hiking, fishing, golf and mountain activities in the surrounding valley and urban energy, nightlife, restaurants and entertainment within 20 minutes to Park City, Provo, or Salt Lake City, the people who live in Heber City and Midway have everything to their hearts’ desire, outside their front and back doors.