NWR: Good faith deposit

teenigrrl Posted: Sep 26, 2008 10:58 AM

NWR: Good faith deposit

For those of you who have purchased/are purchasing a house, how much did you leave as your good faith deposit? Our broker said we should leave no less than 5%, but the buyers of our condo left 2.5% (the attorney's negotiated that fee). What is average?
TIA!

Maria31 Posted: Sep 26, 2008 11:02 AM

Re: NWR: Good faith deposit

It really depends on the sellers and how much they want you to leave. We had to leave $30k when we signed the contracts. That was a little over 5%.

ac1101 Posted: Sep 26, 2008 11:06 AM

Re: NWR: Good faith deposit

Usually its between 5%-10% but it can be any amount that is agreed between the buyer and seller. Actually i was arguing with the seller b/c he was telling that i was required to put 10% and i didn't agree. I was annoyed b/c he should've just said that He would like me to give 10%. ugh anyways, he hung up on me so decided not to take it. Good luck!

roan126 Posted: Sep 26, 2008 11:07 AM

Re: NWR: Good faith deposit

We left 5% when we went to contract, but I was told that standard is usually 10%

futuremrsfab Posted: Sep 26, 2008 11:13 AM

Re: NWR: Good faith deposit

Talk to your attorney- mine negotiated it for us- they wanted 10% on contract but she got them down to 5%.

DeeluvsVinny Posted: Sep 26, 2008 11:21 AM

Re: NWR: Good faith deposit

Standard used to be 10%...now that the the prices of houses has risen so much, most people can get away with a contract deposit of 5% or even less.

The point of the deposit is to show good faith that you won't 'walk away' from the contract. So, they want a substantial amount of money being held so that:
A- you'll be less likely to walk away; and
B- if something goes wrong and they can keep yur deposit, they are getting enough to cover their costs over the time it was in contract..

Definitely have your ATTORNEY, NOT real estate agent negogiate this and other terms of the deal for you. Real Estate agents are usually so caught up in making their comission, they don't always look out for the best of their clients.