Belize Real Estate  Links  
Real Estate Information

Good Faith Deposit - Real Estate Transactions


In a real estate transaction, a touchy issue is how much trust the seller has in a buyer. The existence of a good faith deposit helps put a seller at rest.

Good Faith Deposit

If you are selling your home, condominium or other real estate, you should always require a buyer to make a good faith deposit. The good faith deposit simply establishes that the buyer is serious and, to some extent, has the financial capacity to follow through on the purchase.

The amount of the good faith deposit is dependent upon the agreed sale price of the real estate. Although percentages vary from state to state, a cash deposit equal to three percent of the sales price is typical. For instance, the deposit would be $9,000 for home selling at a price of $300,000. As with most transactions, this percentage is negotiable. I don't recommend that you accept anything less than two percent.

Once the buyer and seller agree to the amount of the good faith deposit, you have to figure out what to do with the deposit. Importantly, the seller should not hold the deposit as doing so could make the buyer very uncomfortable. Instead, the money should be deposited with a third party and held "in trust." Potential third parties include escrow and title insurance companies as well as an attorney if your state requires their involvement.

A good faith deposit acts like an insurance option for a seller. Moving through escrow can take 30 to 60 days, during which the property is off the market. The good faith deposit essentially compensates the seller for this time in the event the buyer is unable to follow through on the purchase of the property.

Depending on the laws in your state, a buyer who can't close will lose the deposit. Typically, the only exception to this is when the seller allows language indicating the deposit will be returned if the buyer can't get a home loan. Of course, including such language can open the seller up to repeated frustration when bad credit buyers repeatedly fail to get funding.

Good faith deposits are a fundamental part of a real estate transaction. Buyers should expect to pay them and sellers should demand them.

Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing homes for sale by owner, "FSBO", properties. Are you thinking, "Should I sell my home?" Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your home sale for free for one month.


MORE RESOURCES:

Houston-Based Real Estate Developer Closes More Than $75 Million in Healthcare ...
MarketWatch (press release)
Medistar Corporation is a full-service real estate development company that specializes in the design, development, financing and construction of healthcare real estate. The company focuses on medical office buildings, integrated medical plazas and ...

and more »


Tossed® Hires Real Estate Veteran A. Michael Toroyan as Chief Development Officer
Sacramento Bee
Toroyan, a 20-year veteran of the restaurant real estate, and franchising, will bring even greater momentum to Tossed's strong and growing franchise development efforts across the US Toroyan comes to Tossed Franchise Corporation from a previous post as ...

and more »


Property Magazine

Web Winners: Navigating real estate industry
News & Observer
By REID KANALEY - The Philadelphia Inquirer Real estate is no easy game, as "underwater" homeowners have found in recent years. You need your wits about you, and these sites help you do that with plain language and suggestions. -The home-buying page at ...
The Real Estate Book Includes Free Agent Mobile Websites in Advertising PackagesPR Web (press release)
REALTOR(R) University Granted Approval to Offer Master of Real Estate Degree ...MarketWatch (press release)
Residential Real Estate Market Endures Dismal 2011Property Magazine
Destin Log
all 14 news articles »


SmartTouch Interactive Launches New Lead Adapter to Integrate with Third Party ...
MarketWatch (press release)
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb 08, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SmartTouch(R) Interactive, an interactive real estate marketing agency and real estate marketing automation and CRM software development company, today announced that it has made available the new Smart ...

and more »


CBS Local

Real estate developer says he plans to make cash bid for Philadelphia's 2 ...
Washington Post
PHILADELPHIA — A wealthy real estate developer said Tuesday he and four partners plan to make an offer to buy the city's two largest newspapers, whose downtown offices he already owns. Bart Blatstein said he plans to pursue an acquisition of some or ...
Developer Blatstein seeking to buy Inquirer, Daily News companyBizjournals.com (blog)

all 167 news articles »


Sam Zell "Comes Clean" for Penton's National Real Estate Investor (nreionline.com)
Sacramento Bee
7, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- In an interview in the February 2012 issue of National Real Estate Investor, Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments, stated that the commercial real estate industry needs to "come clean" with expectations.

and more »


Cole Real Estate Investments Executes Nearly 640000 Square Feet in Retail ...
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Cole Real Estate Investments (Cole), one of the nation's leading investors in high-quality, income-producing retail, office and industrial real estate assets, announced it signed leases totaling nearly 640000 square feet at Cole-related retail ...

and more »


TheStreet.com

Irish Real Estate: This Could Be the Time
TheStreet.com
By Jerold Leslie 02/08/12 - 07:00 AM EST BOSTON (MainStreet) -- Ireland's housing bust makes America's real estate downturn look like a St. Patrick's Day parade -- potentially creating great buying opportunities for Americans willing to test the ...

and more »


Many Homeowners and Real Estate Agents Plead Guilty in $20 Million Mortgage ...
LoanSafe
by Alex Ferreras on February 8, 2012 in Scams OAKLAND (Source: Kristin J. Bender The Oakland Tribune, Calif.) – Four people last week pleaded guilty in federal court to charges relating to a far-reaching mortgage loan fraud scheme involving at least 20 ...

and more »


SILive.com

Father and son Staten Island real estate brokers head to court in family feud
SILive.com
STATEN ISLAND, NY -- They're actually father and son, but two of the Island's most successful commercial real estate brokers are so close they've called themselves the "Smith Brothers." J. Delbert Smith, a familiar presence on the borough's real estate ...

and more »

Google News

home | site map | Colorado Log Homes | Homes for Sale in Denver Metro
© 2006