UT Real Estate cheat sheet

Fiduciary duties owed to a client are care, obedience, loyalty, disclosure, accounting, and confidentiality.

Honesty, fairness, and disclosure of material facts are owed to customers and other parties, but fiduciary duties run only to the client.

Agency is created by express agreement (written or oral), implication, ratification, or estoppel; Utah brokerage agreements must be in writing.

Compensation does not create agency; a buyer's agent may be paid from the seller's proceeds if the buyer agrees and the arrangement is disclosed.

Limited agency (Utah's term for dual agency) requires informed written consent of both parties and narrows the duties of loyalty and confidentiality.

Termination occurs by performance, expiration, mutual agreement, revocation, renunciation, death or incapacity of either party, or destruction of the property.

The duty of confidentiality survives termination of the agency relationship.

Undisclosed dual agency and undisclosed self-dealing are grounds for discipline and can make the transaction voidable.

An agent who exceeds authority without ratification is personally liable to the client for resulting loss.

Formation requires offer, acceptance, consideration, capacity, lawful purpose, and mutual assent on all material terms.

Under the statute of frauds, real property conveyances and contracts must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged.

A counteroffer terminates the original offer; an offer that is rejected or allowed to expire cannot later be accepted.

Valid means legally binding; void means no legal effect; voidable means one party may rescind; unenforceable means a proper contract a court will not enforce.

Bilateral contracts exchange promises; a unilateral contract such as an option is accepted only by performance.

Earnest money is consideration for the agreement, not liquidated damages, unless the contract expressly makes it so.

A contingency is a condition that must be satisfied or expressly waived by a stated deadline; missing the deadline can waive it.

Remedies for breach include specific performance (land is unique), compensatory damages, rescission, and liquidated damages where stated.

The parol evidence rule bars prior or oral statements from altering a fully integrated written agreement.

Fee simple absolute is the largest estate; defeasible fees (determinable, condition subsequent, executory interest) end on a stated event.

Leasehold estates are the estate for years, periodic tenancy, tenancy at will, and tenancy at sufferance.

Easements are appurtenant (benefit a neighboring parcel) or in gross (benefit a person or entity) and arise by express grant, implication, necessity, prescription, or estoppel.

A license is revocable permission to use land and is not an interest in real property.

Encumbrances include liens, easements, CC&Rs, encroachments, and licenses; they affect title quality but do not all prevent transfer.

Tenancy in common has no right of survivorship; joint tenancy requires the unities of time, title, interest, and possession and carries survivorship.

Metes and bounds descriptions begin at a point of beginning and must close; natural monuments control over courses and distances.

Public Land Survey System: a township is 6 miles square with 36 sections; a section is 640 acres, a quarter section 160 acres, a quarter-quarter section 40 acres.

Lot and block descriptions use a recorded plat; datum, benchmarks, and monuments provide elevation and survey references.

Government powers affecting land are police power (zoning), eminent domain (condemnation with just compensation), taxation, and escheat.

Zoning regulates use, height, bulk, density, and setbacks; a nonconforming use may continue but generally cannot be expanded or revived after abandonment.

A variance addresses hardship unique to a parcel; a conditional use permit allows an ordinance-listed use subject to standards.

Spot zoning singles out a small parcel for treatment inconsistent with the comprehensive plan and is frequently invalidated.

Subdivision approval requires a plat and often dedication of streets and utilities; a certificate of occupancy is required before occupancy.

Deed restrictions and CC&Rs are private land use controls enforced by owners or associations rather than by government.

CERCLA imposes strict, joint, and several liability on current owners; the innocent landowner defense requires all appropriate inquiry, generally a Phase I environmental site assessment.

Federal law requires lead-based paint disclosure and the EPA pamphlet for housing built before 1978.

Clean Water Act Section 404 governs dredge and fill of wetlands; NEPA requires environmental review for major federal actions.

Market value assumes a willing buyer and seller, both informed, no undue pressure, and a reasonable exposure time.

Highest and best use must be legally permissible, physically possible, financially feasible, and maximally productive.

Sales comparison approach: adjust comparables toward the subject; subtract when the comparable is superior, add when it is inferior.

Cost approach: value = replacement or reproduction cost minus accrued depreciation plus site value.

Depreciation types are physical deterioration, functional obsolescence, and external (economic) obsolescence; each is curable or incurable.

Income approach: value = net operating income divided by capitalization rate; cap rate = NOI divided by value.

Gross rent multiplier = price divided by gross monthly rent; gross income multiplier uses annual gross income.

Reconciliation weights each approach by relevance to the property type and reliability of the data.

A CMA is a broker's opinion of value for listing or purchase; an appraisal is a formal valuation by a licensed appraiser.

LTV = loan amount divided by value (or purchase price, whichever is lower); CLTV includes all liens on the property.

One discount point equals 1% of the loan amount, paid at closing to reduce the interest rate.

Common underwriting guidelines: conventional 28% housing and 36% total debt ratios; FHA 31% and 43%.

Fully amortizing loans pay off over the term; balloon loans end with a large final payment; negative amortization increases the balance.

Private mortgage insurance is generally required above 80% LTV; it may be canceled at the borrower's request at 80% and terminates automatically at 78% of original value.

A deed of trust has three parties (trustor, trustee, beneficiary) and permits nonjudicial foreclosure through the trustee's power of sale.

Regulation Z requires a Loan Estimate within three business days of application and a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before consummation.

RESPA Section 8 prohibits kickbacks, fee splits, and unearned fees for settlement service referrals.

A due-on-sale (alienation) clause allows the lender to accelerate the loan if title transfers without consent.

Deed requirements: competent grantor, identifiable grantee, words of conveyance, legal description, grantor's signature, and delivery accepted by the grantee.

Recording gives constructive notice and establishes priority among competing interests under the state recording statute.

Warranty ladder from strongest to weakest: general warranty, special warranty, bargain and sale, quitclaim.

Present covenants are seisin, right to convey, and against encumbrances; future covenants are quiet enjoyment, warranty, and further assurances.

An owner's title policy protects the owner as long as they hold title; a lender's policy protects the lender and declines with the loan balance.

A deed in lieu of foreclosure transfers title to the lender to avoid foreclosure; a short sale sells for less than the debt with lender approval.

Adverse possession requires a statutory period of actual, open, exclusive, hostile, and continuous use; prescription creates easements by similar use.

Settlement debits and credits: the seller is debited for amounts owed and credited for items prepaid; the buyer is the reverse.

In Utah, settlement is typically handled by an escrow officer at a title company; attorney representation is not required.

Leasehold estates: estate for years (fixed term, no notice to end), periodic tenancy (notice required), tenancy at will, tenancy at sufferance.

An assignment transfers the tenant's entire remaining interest and creates privity of estate with the landlord; a sublease transfers less and the original tenant stays liable.

Gross lease: landlord pays expenses; net lease: tenant pays some or all expenses; percentage lease adds rent based on the tenant's sales.

Utah requires a residential security deposit to be returned, with an itemized statement of deductions, within 30 days after the tenancy ends.

Utah month-to-month tenancies may be terminated or the rent increased on 15 days' notice.

Landlords owe a warranty of habitability and must maintain safe working conditions; tenants must pay rent, care for the premises, and report defects.

Eviction requires a court action for unlawful detainer; self-help lockouts and utility shutoffs are not permitted.

Property management agreements must be written and identify the owner, scope of services, fee, and the broker's authority over trust funds.

Commercial leases commonly allocate CAM charges and escalations and require estoppel certificates and subordination agreements.

Federally protected classes: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability.

Prohibited practices include blockbusting, steering, redlining, discriminatory advertising, and unequal terms or services.

Disability rules: reasonable accommodation in rules and procedures; reasonable modification at the tenant's expense; service animals are not pets.

Antitrust violations include price fixing, group boycotts, market allocation, and tying arrangements; commissions are always negotiable.

RESPA Section 8 bars kickbacks and unearned fees; affiliated business arrangements require written disclosure of the affiliation and estimated charge.

Fraud requires a material false statement of fact, knowledge of falsity, intent to induce reliance, justifiable reliance, and damages.

Puffing is opinion rather than fact and is not actionable misrepresentation.

Material latent defects known to the licensee must be disclosed even when the buyer does not ask.

Advertising must identify the brokerage, be truthful, and comply with fair housing requirements.

The Utah Division of Real Estate, within the Department of Commerce, licenses and disciplines licensees and is advised by the Utah Real Estate Commission.

License categories are principal broker, associate broker, and sales agent; sales agents and associate brokers must be affiliated with a principal broker.

Basic requirements include being at least 18, a high school diploma or equivalent, approved prelicensing education, passing the exam, and a background check.

A sales agent may be compensated only by and through the principal broker.

Trust funds must be held in a federally insured trust account separate from the broker's own funds; commingling and conversion are prohibited.

Unprofessional conduct includes misrepresentation, undisclosed limited agency, failure to account for funds, and failure to supervise affiliated licensees.

The Real Estate Recovery Fund may reimburse consumers for losses from a licensee's fraud or conversion when a judgment is uncollectible.

Licenses must be renewed with required continuing education; practicing on an expired or inactive license is a violation.

Brokers must retain transaction records and supervise advertising placed by affiliated licensees.

Utah calls dual agency limited agency; it requires the informed written consent of both buyer and seller before the brokerage acts for both.

A written agency disclosure must be given to a prospective buyer or tenant before a property is shown or an agency agreement is signed.

The REPC (Real Estate Purchase Contract) is a standard Utah form setting deadlines for due diligence, financing, appraisal, and settlement; it is not a state-mandated form.

Utah's Residential Property Condition Disclosure requires sellers of one-to-four unit residential property to deliver a written disclosure of known defects.

If the property condition disclosure is not delivered as required, the buyer may have a right to rescind.

Earnest money is usually held by a title company or in the broker's trust account and is disbursed according to the parties' written agreement.

Utah closings are usually handled by a title company acting as escrow agent; no attorney is required and title insurance is customary.

Utah prohibits local real estate transfer taxes; property taxes are prorated at closing, become a lien January 1, and are due November 30.

Sellers of property in a common-interest community must provide association documents and a statement of dues and assessments.