How Much Earnest Money is Required when Buying Property?
Earnest Money is the initial deposit that a buyer will submit when writing an offer on a property that is listed for sale. While there is no real "standard" amount of earnest money required, the amount submitted with an offer can have a strong affect on the offer's strength. In Park City Utah, it is typical to see the earnest money at about 1-2% of the purchase price for the property. We do however see buyers offer less, and we also see some buyers offer more. Typically a cash buyer will offer a higher amount of earnest money to show their strength and ability to purchase, while buyers planning to obtain a mortgage will offer a little less. There is no real right or wrong, or standard amount,
In a recent article on WSJ.com, the news is that the National Association of Realtors has recently said it is now becoming a Seller's Market for national real estate sales. The article goes on to say: "The number of homes listed for sale in January fell by 4.9%, leaving 1.74 million properties on the market. That’s the lowest since December of 1999, when there were 1.71 million homes on the market. By contrast, there were 2.91 million homes on the market two years ago at this time."
It was also added that: "The upshot is that there’s a growing pool of buyers chasing a shrinking supply of homes. If the trend holds, prices will keep going up. At the current pace of sales, it would take just 4.2 months to sell the current supply of homes available for
