We buy houses scams in Utah are specific, and you can check for every one.

What does Utah law say about foreclosure rescue and sale-leaseback offers?

Utah treats foreclosure rescue as real estate brokerage. Utah Code 61-2f-102 defines it as a paid offer to help you prevent a foreclosure through a deal that transfers title to your house. Anyone who does it or advertises it falls under the licensing act, so doing it without a license is unlawful under section 61-2f-201. Section 61-2f-401 also makes it unlawful to:

• do it without a written agreement that says what will be done;
• claim a special relationship with your lender, or pose as a government agency, your lender or a nonprofit;
• recommend a rescue that requires you to deed the house to them or to someone they do business with, pay your mortgage to anyone but your servicer, or stop talking to your lender, servicer, attorney or a counselor.

The classic sale-leaseback fits the last of those. The FTC’s October 2024 consumer alert warns that selling your house and renting it back carries risks that “include hefty fees, exorbitant rent, and even eviction from your home,” and tells you to have a lawyer or someone you trust read the papers. Its mortgage relief scam guidance calls the deed-transfer version equity skimming, and adds a point people miss: transferring the deed does not transfer the mortgage, so you can lose the house and still owe the loan.

If you are behind and want to keep the house, call a HUD-approved housing counselor before any buyer, us included. The CFPB’s directory finds one by ZIP code, and their advice is often at little or no cost to you. Our foreclosure page sets out the options that keep the house.

How can a contract or an early deed cost you the house?

Three ways: a deed signed before the money is at a title company, a contract that gives the buyer a long free option, and a document recorded against your title. Each one works because you signed it.

The deed. The Utah Division of Real Estate’s loan modification guide tells you not to sign a warranty deed or quitclaim deed giving your title to anyone, because when you lose title, you lose ownership. In a real sale you sign the deed once, at closing, at a title company already holding the buyer’s money. Utah requires title agents and escrow officers to be licensed by the Insurance Department, and you can choose any agency you want. Confirm wiring instructions by phone at a number you found yourself, as the Division’s wire fraud alert advises.

The long free option. On Utah’s state-approved purchase contract, the buyer can cancel at its sole discretion before the Due Diligence Deadline and take its earnest money back (section 8.1(b)), and that deadline is a blank someone fills in. A week or two is a buyer checking the house. Sixty days with a $500 refundable deposit holds your house off the market for free while the buyer looks for someone to pay more, and the same clause lets it come back with objections and a lower number. A buyer’s own contract may differ from the state form, ours included, so ask which date is in it.

The recorded document. Under Utah Code 57-3-102, a recorded document gives notice to everyone from the moment it is recorded, so a memorandum of contract a buyer records against your house shows up in every later title search. Utah Code 57-30-201 covers a residential property service agreement, which is a contract to provide services in connection with selling your house. One entered into after May 3, 2023 is void if it says it runs with the land, binds a future owner or creates a lien, or if its services start more than a year out, and a void one may not be recorded, even as a memorandum. Ask any buyer whether it will record anything against the house. A straight answer is no, or yes with what and why.

How do you check a we buy houses company in Utah in 10 minutes?

It takes five lookups, all online. Run them on the name printed on the contract, not the one on the postcard, and run them on us too: our reviews page says where each review lives, and who we are is written down so you can test it.

Utah requires a license to buy or sell real estate for another person, so a company buying for itself may not hold one. A blank license result is something to ask about, and it only rules a buyer out when that buyer is offering a foreclosure rescue.

Take a hypothetical Ogden homeowner, 71, two payments behind on a small mortgage after a hospital stay. A postcard arrives, then two calls. Neither buyer is real, and the numbers are round examples, not a quote of ours.

• Buyer A offers $230K in writing, with a 10-day due diligence period, earnest money at a title company, and a closing on her date.
• Buyer B offers $265K and says it can stop the foreclosure: a quitclaim deed signed at her kitchen table this week, a $495 processing fee, rent until she buys the house back in two years, and a 45-day inspection period.

The higher number fails every check. Buyer B’s contract name differs from its postcard and is not in the Business Entity Search, the caller offering the rescue is not in the license lookup, the deed-and-rent-back plan is the kind section 61-2f-401 forbids, and there is no title company at all. Buyer A’s name is registered, its BBB complaints have answers, and its title company is licensed. She then searches her parcel on Weber County’s free parcel search, sees only her own deed and mortgage, and signs up for the county’s free Property Watch, which alerts her to recordings on her parcel but, as the county says, does not lock it.

Because she wants to stay, her first call is still a housing counselor. If a repayment plan keeps the house, that beats $230K. If she sells, $230K is a real number to set beside what an agent would net her.

Where do you report cash home buyer scams in Utah?

Start with the Utah Division of Consumer Protection and the FTC, then add the agency that matches what happened. If a deed or a memorandum is already recorded, call a Utah real estate attorney too. We are not lawyers, so this is where complaints go, not advice on your case.

• Division of Consumer Protection. Its complaint form has categories for a scam, for telemarketing, and for something received in the mail.
• FTC. ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the place its sale-leaseback alert says to report.
• Division of Real Estate. Submit a complaint about an agent, or about anyone offering a foreclosure rescue.
• Insurance Department. The complaint portal on its title FAQ, for a title agency or escrow officer.
• Attorney General. The Financial Crimes Intelligence Center, which lists mortgage fraud and elder fraud among the crimes it investigates.
• Adult Protective Services. Utah APS takes reports when an older parent may have been exploited, including over the house.

Questions people ask

Are we buy houses companies legit?

Most are. They buy below retail, then repair and resell the house or keep it as a rental, and the low offer is how that business makes its money. The ones to avoid ask you for money, ask for a deed before closing, or offer to rent your own house back to you. Ten minutes with Utah’s Business Entity Search, the Division of Real Estate license lookup and the BBB sorts most of them out.

Should a cash buyer ever ask the seller for money up front?

No. Money moves from the buyer to you, and the buyer’s earnest money goes to the title company. An application, processing or appraisal fee asked of a seller is the clearest answer to “is we buy houses legit” for that company. If you have paid one, report it to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection and to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Can a cash buyer let me stay in the house after I sell?

Often, for a short period written into the contract, such as two weeks to move. A sale-leaseback is different: you stay on as a renter with no end date and a promise that you can buy the house back. The FTC warns those deals can bring hefty fees, steep rent and eviction, and Utah law makes it unlawful for anyone doing a foreclosure rescue to recommend one that requires you to deed the house to them.

What if someone recorded a deed on my house that I never signed?

That is a fraudulent deed under Utah law, and you can petition a court to void it; if the petition is sufficient, the hearing is set within 10 days (Utah Code 57-31-202). The person who signed and recorded it is liable for the greater of $10,000 or three times your actual damages, plus attorney fees (Utah Code 57-31-201). Talk to a Utah real estate attorney, and sign up for your county recorder’s notification service if it has one.

Most cash buyers in Utah are what they say they are, and the scams give themselves away by asking for something before the money moves, sometimes the house itself as security for a promise. If you are behind and want to stay, call a counselor first. If the house is in decent shape and you can wait, an agent will usually net you more. For a number to compare, get your cash offer: it comes in writing, it costs nothing, and you are free to say no.