Negotiating earnest money deposit

[Brad Cook]

I am looking at doing my first wholesaling deal I understand the process for the most part but have a few things that put me in a bit of a paralysis. I see wholesaling gurus say you can put anywhere from $100-$250 as the earnest money deposit, so my question is with earnest money typically being at minimum 1% of the price you get it under contract for, how can I negotiate the earnest money deposit with the seller to get it down to a $200 deposit?

And I ask because I do not have the capital to put 1% of the price down for the deposit and to be completely honest I'm afraid to try to put a property under contract if I don't have the  earnest money deposit to send to the title company.

-TIA to any tips, info and/or advice given on this.

[Ned Carey]

@Brad Cook when negotiating directly with a seller I have put doswn as litle as $10 per property. However if you are doing a deal listed on the Mutiple list service, any agent will laugh at a deposit that small. Despite what the gurus say, it does take some money to do this business and earnest money deposits are one example. 

If you don't have 1% to put down as a EMD you may not be ready to invest in real estate. Putting a proerty under contract when you don't have the ability to close could put you into legal trouble. The gurus teaching this stuff never mention that.

@Russell Brazil do you want to comment