Putting Earnest Money

[Matthew J. T.]

When having the seller sign the contract, I understand that you can put 10$ on it to secure the contract, but if seller asks you why you are putting in so little what do you them? Don't they want to know that you are serious? As I am going to be collecting a deposit from my end by to know he is serious, how is the motivated seller going to know I'm serious off of 10$, and is there any law, or rule that states you must put a certain amount to secure the contract?

Matt

[Will Barnard]

Matt,
I don't know all 50 state laws, but most of them I do know about state that you need to have "consideration" for a contract to be binding. That consideration could mean lots of things.

In the grand scheme of things, you need to be putting more than $10 down anyways, that makes you look unprofessional in my opinion and I don't care what any guru says otherwise claiming that you should use as little of your own money as possible. Secondly, why would you even want to only put down $10? Even a $100 is low, but if you did use $100, I would tell the seller that once the contract was fully executed in escrow, and the due diligence period was over, that you would be placing additional earnest money prior to closing. That should appease their minds.