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Earnest money is the amount of money put down for a large purchase. While this is not limited to real estate, it is used frequently in the real estate industry. It’s a sign of good faith from the buyer to the seller and normally constitutes about 1%-5% of the home’s price.
There is no set amount for how much you can put down in your earnest account. However, the more money you put into these accounts, the more likely you are to be taken seriously by the seller.
Property laws in most states have strict regulations for who holds the money. Most often a third-party escrow company, title company or sometimes the buyer’s broker opens a trust account to hold the funds until completion or dissolution of the sales contract. At that point, the funds go to wherever the contract specifies. That could be back to the buyer or forfeited to the seller. In some cases, the earnest money might go to the real estate agent. If the sale goes through, the funds go toward the buyer’s costs in the transaction, and it appears as a credit on the settlement statement.
To protect yourself from forfeiting earnest money, be fully prepared to complete the sales transaction. Have a pre-qualification letter from your lender, set aside funds for the down payment and closing, and provide the lender, escrow officer, title company and all other interested parties with the information they need for a timely close.
If you wonder about how much earnest money to include, your best resource is your knowledgeable real estate professional.
Susan Shuxian Hu has been a dedicated realtor serving in Silicon Valley since 2010. With great passion, outstanding negotiation skills and due diligence, she has helped many buyers and sellers in their real estate needs. Living in West San Jose for more than 14 years, she has broad knowledge in Cupertino, West San Jose, Los Altos and Saratoga. She has enormous patience working with buyers and never tired of showing all possible properties that may fit client’s needs. Clients appreciate her best service to their satisfaction. She specialized in luxurious real estate purchase in Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga and Palo Alto. She also helped friend and past client’s referral working in San Francisco, Foster City and far reached Bay Area.
Susan Shuxian Hu was graduated in East China Normal University in Shanghai with bachelor and master degrees in Bio science. She came to US in 1989 and earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics in Texas A&M University in 1996. After one year of postdoc in Southern Florida University in Tampa, she moved back to Orlando with her family and started working in Lucent Technologies. In 2002, Susan moved to California, Silicon Valley joined a start-up company. Since then she worked in high tech Corporation till 2009. Driven by her dream job pursuing, she found her passion working in sales by helping people in real estate after one year of education in De Anza business and real estate law study. Since then, she has been serving many people in Bay Area for their real estate needs.
With bilingual advantage, she has been actively working with Chinese immigrants as well as local engineers and residents. With rich high tech background and connection with Chinese community, Susan has served in luxurious real estate in last a couple of years.