Q: Is earnest money required?
I have raw land I’m selling without the help of a real estate agent. I have not placed the land on market, the seller approached me asking to buy. We agreed on a price and want to move forward as easily as possible. I’m using a Utah REPC and plan to take the contract to a title company and have them do the rest. Can I put $0 on the form? My fear is the earnest money is required to make the contract “formal” or “binding”.
A: Earnest money invites only serious buyers to get involved in a transaction. The earnest money does not force the buyer to buy your property, so no, the earnest money is not necessary for the REPC to be effective.
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