Earnest Money (How much?), Appraisals, Offers, Etc.

[Hopingforamortgage]

Earnest Money - How much must one give the realtor?  Can we do a minimum amount (like $500 and still be taken seriously?)

I ask because we're doing a zero down mortgage.  I'd prefer to hand them as little as possible as I would like reserves reflected in my bank account, kwim?

Appraisal - Obviously we're paying for this.

Home Inspection - Also on us.

This house needs appliances.  Can we ask that $$ for appliances come back to us at closing for this purchase?  (There are nice appliances in place, but they are black.  Not sure I'm lovin' it.)

Thanks.

[dpechal]

I recently put down $1,000 for the earnest payment, $500 could work but i'd ask your agent what she see's most.

[Mrs_hambright]

I'm pretty new to this but the way I understand this is it depends on the asking price of the house. I could be wrong but your realtor will give you the best estimate for the deposit amount. I just sent 1000.00 & the asking price was 114,900

[Jamisonke]

I, too, was under the impression that the Earnest Money Deposit was a percentage of the purchase price. We just purchased a new construction home at $489,000 and our EMD was $14,700 (which is 3% of the purchase price).

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

Depends on what is customary in your area & the sales price.  I've seen $300k-400k sales prices in Georgia with a $1k earnest money deposit, out here in CA it seems to be more around 1% of the sales price.  Your real estate agent can tell you what would be appropriate.  The earnest money is credited towards whatever you owe at closing, if you are doing a mortgage which doesn't require a down payment & all your closing costs are being paid by the seller or lender as well, then you should get the full amount of your earnest money back at closing.