Here in California, that essentially means that the buyers earnest money deposit wouldn’t be at risk regardless of what they did.

I've seen cases where the LP backed out of the deal at the last minute, not only leaving the operator at the closing table without the capital, but causing the sponsor to lose their earnest money deposit. 

She is telling me I have to put a honest deposit of $1000 down for every offer I make.

Right on the bank statement you could see the following:- Federal & state tax refund deposits of $12k- Purchase at a care tire shop, assuming new tires for her car.

You can charge pet rent, a pet deposit, or both.

The state doesn’t have rent control laws, but landlords are prohibited from collecting more than one month’s rent for security deposits.

New tenants moved in 8 days before the month I paid was up and signed a new year lease with a new deposit.

Don't forget there is more than the downpayment, you have closing costs, holding costs, deposit to a contractor to start work. 

You will likely need to come up with the 5% deposit required at the time of winning the auction on your own.

With that said, my goal with advance booking is to bring-in a decent amount of revenue during the offseason (winter), but don't want to scare anyone away with a large initial deposit, and of course I'd like to discourage cancellations.