Real Estate Investor · London · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 74 votes
19y
I am not sure I completely understand the question.
1. There is never a legal reason that a down payments has to be paid unless you promised to do so. If you tell a lender you are paying a down payment then you legally have promised them to do so. Hence you would need to do what you have promised or there could be problems.
You can do a deal with zero cash if the seller is fine with the deal. You can do a deal where the seller pays you to take the property off their hand.
2. A contract to buy which has no earnest money may be invalid based on what the contract says. Earnest money is to show good faith and is not required for a sale to be valid. A contract that says you will pay earnest money means you will pay it.
So, spell out a bit more what you are thinking and then we can comment.