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First Time Real Estate Purchase
Nothing can be more exciting & terrifying at the same time than buying your 1st home. Everyone talks about all the advantages of buying real estate such as the tax benefits, appreciation etc. But there are some risks involved and the more knowledge...
How To Avoid Pitfalls In The Sale Of Your Home
Appraisal vs. Market Value
When you sell your home, appraisers use comps (comparable market sales) of local properties sold within the last six months to value your home. With today’s rapidly rising seller’s market, six-month-old information...
Pending Real Estate Bubble? How To Profit In Any Market
With all the talk of a pending real estate bubble or falling sales prices, real estate investors need to guard their money and find new ways to make money. No matter what the market does, you can make money investing in real estate when you know...
The Best Time to Inspect
Home inspections conducted prior to a home being placed on the market is one of the wisest moves a seller can make. The initial response from sellers when approached with the idea of an inspection done as the home is about to be put up for sale...
Wealthy Americans Confident Real Estate Boom Will Last
Linknet Real Estate News Digest - December 22, 2005 - In spite of worrying signs that the real estate market is slowing down, a survey of wealthy Americans indicates most remain confident property values will continue to appreciate.
In a survey...
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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.
About the Author: Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our "sell my home" page at http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your home yourself with a free 1 month listing.
Source: www.isnare.com
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