Real estate, too, has some liquidity risk, but there are a lot more buyers for a SFH than for a note.Adverse Selection Risk: People borrow from hard money lenders and sellers when they can't go to the bank, and there's often a reason for that.

The property was foreclosed by mortgage lender, then the government stepped in and shut down the mortgage lender and liquidated their assets.

Again, to make my point, I had a lot of dealings with title companies, for instance, I had a liquidated damages fund (unrelated to this event) held in escrow once, and I had to backtrack through 3 title companies and sue to have my funds released.

Worst thing I've ever had happen is a grocery store receipt in the toilet and a front door left open in the middle of winter with the heat running.

My real question with this thread is whether or not we were somehow technically in breach of contract such that the seller could have walked away and demanded that the escrow agent send him the earnest funds as liquidated damages.

The residents would be downtown and close to cafes, a bank, the post office, a grocery store, and other businesses.

I just made some phone calls to Family Dollar stores and Ace Cash in my area (Minneapolis) that were listed on PayNearMe website under the location page.  

You can probably find some in a local used book store.

I am always questioning how "liquid" to be to handle the emergencies that CAN pop up.I'm curious, what is everyone's rule of thumb as far as cash reserves go for the un-expected?

I use to get a POF letter from one of the many Transactional Financing providers or a bank statement, self-directed retirement account, securities account, or something liquid to show with my offer to the bank (and often an explanation) Once I got it under contract, I would bring it to the HMB.That being said, that was not recent, and if you can find a HMB to work with, ahead of time, that would be preferable.