If you've been watching the market across Utah county and Salt Lake county, you might have noticed something interesting: builders are suddenly a lot more willing to negotiate than they were a year ago. At the same time, programs that help buyers get into homes are sitting there fully funded and underutilized. The combination? It's creating the best buying opportunity Utah has seen in years. Today, we’re focusing on helping first time home buyers get into their first home using some pretty cool strategies.

Nearly every major builder in Utah County is now offering incentives worth $15,000 to $60,000+ just to move inventory before year-end. Perry Homes is putting $21,000 toward rate buydowns or closing costs. Kartchner is offering $10,000 on townhomes plus free appliances. Edge Homes is offering up to 9-10% incentives (that’s $50,000 on a $500,000 home), DR Horton is offering a 3.875% mortgage rate, and Daybreak builders are stacking multiple incentives on quick move-in homes.

Why the shift? Builders need to close deals. They have construction loans to pay off, investors to answer to, and projects that need to start in 2026. That means right now, they're willing to help buyers in ways they haven’t in a long time.

Here's what crazy: Utah County has a program that offers up to $40,000 in down payment assistance. The state has a $20,000 program specifically for new construction under $450,000. Plus, there are many other city and privately run programs that can cover more.

Most buyers don't even know these programs exist. The ones who do often don't realize you can stack them together with builder incentives to drastically reduce what you need to bring to closing.

You could close on a $450,000 new construction home with $1,000 out of pocket by layering the state run new construction downpayment assistance grant with builder incentives to cover your closing costs. If new construction isn’t your thing, then you could use the Utah County Loan to Own program, purchase an existing home for up to $550,000 and receive $40,000 in downpayment assistance with a 0% interest rate on the $40,000. Plus, ask for the seller to pay for your closing costs, and you’ve just purchased your first home for $0 out of pocket.

But here's the thing: builder incentives change monthly. Programs run out of funding. And inventory that qualifies for these deals won't last forever. This perfect storm of builder motivation, plus available assistance programs is a limited-time situation. As more buyers do enter back into the market, these options will get used up.

If you've been renting and thought homeownership was out of reach, or if you're trying to upgrade but don't have a massive down payment saved, this might be your window.

Just reply to this email and I'll break it down for your situation.

Here to serve,

P.S. I'm putting together a list of every available program and builder incentive in Utah County right now. Reply to this email if you want me to send it your way—it might change how you think about what's possible.

P.S.S. Each program has different requirements, but that's actually good news—if you don't qualify for one, you likely qualify for another. And yes, there are solutions for non-first-time buyers too. Just reply and I'll show you what fits.