How much of a deposit with offer?

Mrs.P0405 · February 2012

Hello,

I am new to this board. My husband and I have been looking at homes and found one we may want to put an offer on soon. Just wondering if you put down a flat deposit for a home or a % of the offer.

Thanks!

-Mer

kaylie622 · February 2012

It typically varies by locality. We live in NJ but are looking just over the border in PA. There it's customary to do $500 or $1000 initially and another $2500 to $5000 after the inspection period.

Mrs.P0405 · February 2012

I was wondering if it varied. Our realtor is telling us a % but I hadn't heard that from others, so just checking!

TarHeels&Rebels · February 2012

Yep, it varies. Here (LCOLA - avg price per sq ft about $75-$100), you only give $1k in earnest money. On starter homes, sometimes just $500. I've read on here that earnest money can run 5 digits in other parts of the country.

Desmond&MollyJones · February 2012

Definitely varies. We are closing on house number 4 tomorrow and we've always only paid a $500 deposit.

Simpsongal1 · February 2012

I think $10K is pretty standard around here for escrow money.

Nechie122 · February 2012

In TN, our realtor said we should consider somewhere around $2,000-4,000. From what I understand, more money up front can be a sweetener for a deal, so we'd consider more under certain circumstances.

naylon511 · February 2012

I would imagine in NJ you'll be working with a RE Lawyer and that it's similar to NY? When we bought we sent no money with our offer (there aren't even signed offers here) it's all verbal until you go into contract. Once you go into contract it's customary to do 10% which is paid to the current Homeowners but goes into Escrow.

steph44w1 · February 2012

It varies by location. Generally, in NY the more you put down shows how serious the buyer is. If a person is getting a regular mortgage with 20% down, I counsel my buyer to put 10% of that down in escrow at contract signing.

mekiakoo · February 2012

Ours was $500

molldoll71 · February 2012

Our REA had us do $1,000.

VMRRN23 · February 2012

In MA, we put $500 down for a deposit once our offer was accepted. Then you have your inspection, negotiate further (we kept the price the same but they had things they had to fix/replace). Then you sign the purchase and sale, which in MA is 5% of the price of the home.

livelaughlove717 · February 2012

Our REA asked us to put down 2k

atlcatlover · February 2012

Ours was $10K. We knew there was another couple interested in the house, and we wanted the seller to know we had a strong offer.

JoeLies · February 2012

Our realtor has asked for a check for 1% of our offer price when writing up the contract, and she writes in that we'll provide an additional 9% when the offer is accepted. I'm sure there are more reasons for it but part of it is supposedly to signal a strong offer and evidence that we've got enough $$ that the sellers don't need to worry about financing falling through.

Dragonfly08 · February 2012

This definitely varies.

We bought a bank-owned home, and the listing stated that a deposit of $6K needed to accompany any offers. That ended up being about 1% of the final purchase price.

Mrs.P0405 · February 2012

Thanks for all of the replies! I talked to my agent and what we need to do is what most people were saying...a smaller deposit with offer/contract and then if it is agreed upon, a certain % after inspection date.

Matt Dvorak · February 2012

We did 10K on the offer that we put in in the Denver area.

m+j · February 2012

Interesting responses. I believe here the escrow amount is dictated by the seller. I notice every listing we look at has a deposit amount. The house we were interested in but missed out on had a deposit amount of $125,000. Our first home had a deposit amount of $10,000. I guess it varies by location but here I'm pretty sure the seller requests an amount and negotiation is possible.

How much of a deposit with offer?

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