No Earnest Money ( Can You Help Me ) What Sources Or Options Can I Use

I am looking at the same problem. You can try having your cash buyer put up the earnest money. You can tell the buyer to give it to a third party(escrow company) and the agent can verify the amount with the third party. Just what I thought of.

RENinja

you can look for a Private Lender to put up the EM in exchange for 50% return; i.e. they lend you $1,000 and after closing you pay them back $1,500. If you have a good, solid deal you won't have a problem finding someone...

Or, you can get a POF letter from Coastal Funding- link below...
http://www.coastal-funding.com/pof.html

For HUD properties, you are required to send in EM when offer gets accepted; with a private seller, you can give them any amount (i.e. $100); if it's through an agent, you can give them a copy of a check and tell them that when it closes, you will give them the original...

Wishing you success,
Valerie

Our contract always states that we will deposit the earnest money with title company within 48 hrs. of acceptance of contract. You do NOT want to put earnest money out there for every offer you make. I know there is another thread out there floating around for this with some great suggestions, such as using a copy of an earnest money check for several offers. Depositing an amount with the title company and using it for several offers, then use it for one that finally gets accepted...

If you are planning to wholesale, then get your end buyers lined up to cover your earnest $$ as soon as offer accepted.

Hi Candace,

Yes, you should not need to have the EMD's in cash to make offers on properties. If your Realtor insists that you bring cash to the table at the time you are making an offer, then you need to find another Realtor.

My Realtors write, in the purchase agreements that are used to make an offer on a property, "That the earnest money deposit will be wired to the title company within 48 hours of seller's acceptance of my offer." This takes away the need for blank checks floating around out there. And I am told that it does not matter if I simply deliver a check to the title company within that time frame.

When I am notified that an offer has been accepted, then I just send the emails to my buyer investors. And if no one takes it, then no EMD gets delivered and the deal is over. I always write, in the email, that the first one who gets me the EMD check gets the property.

Hope this helps you when the time comes.

Theo T.
CogniWorld-LV

1 dollar is earnest money, enough to close a deal. If the realtor wont accept it, find another one. There's always another one out there that will accept 1 dollar for deposit. Actully a attorney told me you don't need a earnest money deposit to buy real estate, signing the contract both parties create and binding contract, money deposit does't create a binding contract.

Here is the deal. Earnest money is not required until after the deal is accepted. If you do not have an accepted contract, the seller can't cash your check. As stated many times on the already existing threads on this subject. Just give the seller/agent a COPY of your check with your offer. Most contracts ALREADY state earnest is not due until 24 to 48 hours after the accepted contract is signed by both parties.

With that said think about this. This is reality in the REAL WORLD. Put your self in the sellers shoes.
The agent has a cash offer with a $1.00 earnest money check
Another cash offer has an earnest money check of 10% of the purchase price.
Which offer is going to be accepted? Especially when dealing with REOs and short sales!! Some investors even put up 100% of the purchase price as earnest when they really want the deal. Big Boys are playing here!!

The best way to get a deal under contract with low earnest money is dealing directly with UNLISTED motivated home owners. NO REALTOR INVOLVED.

I want to see ONE and I mean ONE person that has purchased a short sale or an REO with an offer that included $1.00 earnest money. Agents. sellers and banks are not stupid! You are usually making a cash offer but will only put up $1.00 as earnest?? Games that allow you to submit an offer not get one accepted, that is all that is. We are talking real world not fantasy land.

Once again, dealing directly with the unlisted, motivated seller is another story. There you can use low earnest money amounts on your offers.

Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

When i'm dealing with private sellers i put up 1.00 to 10.00. When i'm making offers on MLS listings i use a promissory note for deposit contract,and i put in the addendum, $500 deposit given within 10 days after acceptance. Last short sale i did, bank was ready to go, short sale approved deal,and i bought the property with only 2.00 as earnest money. Bank was motivated to sell, and property was going to sale within a week of me buying it.

Thank you all Ya'll Have given me Many ways to Get Money & Close deal's Thank you all .

So I Can Do These Things

1. I can Use Private Lenders to Get Earnest Cash & Use Day Funding to Close .

OR

2. Use my Buyer to get Earnest Cash

when he states this is the real world. Right now I have funds in the bank, I'm looking for properties and there has been an influx of investors hitting my market. There is SO MUCH competition to get these REO's. No one would even consider an offer with such a small check of earnest money. My agent thinks I should even increase the amount of earnest money to show them I am serious.

And by the way, he always has a copy of my check with no name and the amount filled out. He uses that for every offer. Then I fill it in when an offer is accepted.

Of course if you manage to find a property that has been on the market for 300 days or whatever....the story might change if they just can't get rid of the property.

You must remember I'm flipping contracts Here, assigning to an end buyer, and I Don't have any of my own money to use I'm using OPM, What little Money I do have I use to buy bandit signs and for marketing , This is how Matt Larson started out, he would use $10, but it never hurts to try, there's people locking up deals with no deposit, Banks are Very greedy I try to avoid dealing with them period,action + knownlegde= success.....

I think I'm going with FSBO's Properties & then MLS later .

The FSBO are hard to find also..What I mean is its just as hard to find one that will part with there Property for the price your going to ask..Nothing is easy you just have to try everything you can until you find something that will work for you

Most FSBOs are FSBOs because they do not have enough equity to pay the agents commission and pay off their mortgage. It seems like FSBOs are better subject to or L/O deals. Very, Very few will work as wholesale deals. The owners simply owe too much on their mortgage to offer enough margin to make it a good whole sale or fix/flip deal. There are those type of FSBO deals out there, just not enough to develop a consistent wholesale (assignment) business. L/O and subject to is another story however. But you need a good cash reserve to do that right. 6 months of lease or mortgage payments in the bank for each property you control. This will cover vacancies and repairs.

UNLISTED MOTIVATED SELLERS, NOT FSBOs is where you will find the best contract assignment deals.

This is all just my opinion of course and applies to my area. Other parts of the country MAY be different.

Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

I have noticed that many agents list properties for sale in the "By Owner" sections of CL, and other websites, and when you open the listed property page, it will show that it is listed by an agent...

Learning and progressing every day,
Valerie

If you have things for sale that other people may want, sell it and use it for your earnest money deposits or if you have enough, you can use it for a down payment on a property. Items I am talking about is investments, old jewelry, cars or other vehicles. I once was going to use a life insurance policy to put into escrow but the deal didn't go thru. Think of other ways you may get money to put aside. Hope this helps.

The minimum earnest money is $1.00. I have done it in the past without any issues. Most realtors want to see earnest money as well as Sellers who use MLS. If you use for sale by owners, they most likely will not care about the earnest money and/or amount. It will make your life easier.

If you must have an earnest money put in, they will not deposit the check until the contract is accepted. So you have few days to find from friend, family, end buyer, etc. In some states, the realtors have 3 business hours to deposit the check in the escrow account. This varies per state.

If I get a property under contract for $100,000 with a $5,000 deposit an assign it for $10,000 will I only get $5,000 at closing?

I may be a little off here as I am not an attorney and this should not be taken as legal advice. I offer this as practical advice.
I believe the amount of money necessary to change hands to make a legal contract varies by state. In most of the docs I've seen and used here in FL, the doc states " for $10.00 and other considerations...". I've also seen in a video training seminar by a Miami investor dealing with a FSBO in FL, he said " I need to give you $10.00 to make this contract legal."

Bottom line, check your local and state laws. It would be crazy to lose a deal over a stupid technicality and in a FL case, $9.00.

With all that being said people, remember, we are trying to help these people out of their Real Estate situation and as mentioned in previous posts within this thread, this is the REAL WORLD and not the one on MTV! Before you offer a seller $1.00 as EM, put yourself in the seller's shoes and ask yourself "Would I want to deal with someone like that?" When you can honestly answer YES, that's how you make a win/win situation.

Just my 2 cents...

Andy Sager
DG's AndyS

You will get $10,000. Your earnest money is covered by the buyer right? You put up $5000 on your deal, your buyer gives you $5,000 (or more) as his earnest on the assignment contract. Two contracts go to the title company. It comes off the purchase price not your assignment fee. You don't keep earnest money, that goes to the title company when you bring them the contracts to set up your closing.

Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC