Earnest money, How much do you recommend?

[coastal]

Is there a standard % you recommend to include with an offer?

I'm in the process of writing up a standard operations book for my team of new realtors and am wondering what a good % to shoot for would be.

I've used 3% in the past and I realize that different situations call for different amounts.

Any insight would be helpful.

[Micheal Pannell Realtor]

$500 to 1%

[ericbramlett]

When the market was looser, we ~1/2% was fairly standard. Now that it's tightened, 1% seems to be the norm.

[Steve Didier]

Around 1% is standard for earnest money here - but everything is negotiable.

[u2man]

I always go min 1%.....with clients pulling out all the time, I encourage my buyers to put down as much as possible. Makes the offer stronger and I don't want my buyer to pull out of a deal just because......they tend to change their minds more when it's $500 vs 15,000.

[darrenwoodard]

We try to get atleast 1%, but no less than $1000

[David Pylyp]

Incredible differences. I usually work with $5 - 7000 per 300,000. transactions. A deal for .5MM could easily have a 20 - 25 thousand deposit.
Even a deal at 300 may have a 15K deposit to show buyer ability and commitment.

I was always told to get enough deposit to be close to the expected commission.

[coastal]

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Cap locks....

Thanks for your answers. I must be in a unique market. 2% and higher is pretty standard here.

I just wrote a offer on a $950K home with $25K in Ernest

[Calgary Agent]

Michael - every market is different. Here in Calgary-land, something priced between $250K-$1-mil we'd usually like to see at least 3-5% deposit. Homes $1-mil to $3-mil would be a minimum of 5%, and often requires as much as 10%. $3-mil plus properties you'll likely need closer to 10% than 5%.

[doosk]

1% to just under whatever makes the purchaser nervous.