I am looking at purchasing my first rental property in Utah (I currently own one in California.) The agent I'm working with has strongly suggested making offers sight unseen, as soon as I see something I like. Their reasoning is that (a) the market is hot and if we don't make an offer, someone else will; and (b) it's very easy to back out of a contract in Utah without losing earnest money, because of the looseness of inspection and other contingencies. I'm skeptical that this is the case, so was hoping to get some more perspectives.
California had a hot market but I never in a million years would have considered making an offer without a showing and at least a few questions of the agent. Is this actually normal in Utah (or in general), and are there situations where it would be hard to get out with earnest money? I can see where the agent is coming from--I've seen three properties go from new listing to under contract in less than four days--but I'm very reluctant to get into contract for a property that turns out to have tons of problems, or where the tenant situation is different from advertised, and having to deal with back-and-forth over earnest money.
