Thread: Buying offer deposit in MA

I don;t know in your area, but for most it depends on the deal of the buyer and seller.

In MA and anywhere else, it will be in the contract. If there is a time clause in there, chances are yes, you have to buy in that time frame unless you negociate with your seller for an extension if you have a good reason and/or if the seller is willing to do so...
You don't buy in, you may ose the deposit...

This will actually hold me from making several offers. I would be worried about loosing the deposit money!

Originally Posted by cosmocentral26

This will actually hold me from making several offers. I would be worried about loosing the deposit money!

Why? Just make a contract that you understand and feel comfortable with. That's all. Quite easy actually...

Originally Posted by Codythebest

Why? Just make a contract that you understand and feel comfortable with. That's all. Quite easy actually...

I didn't know I could do that. Thanks a lot pal.

Originally Posted by cosmocentral26

I didn't know I could do that. Thanks a lot pal.

Of course. A contract is only a contract, a piece of paper with stuff on it.
Let me give you an example of an offer contract right now:

I'm buying your home today, for $500.00 in cash. I put $200 as earnest deposit in escrow at acceptance of contract. I have 30 days to pay you and close. Deed will be transfered at funding. Seller has 3 days to accept or reject the offer. if rejected, the deposit will beback to buyer.

This is a good example IMO because you say yes and I just buy a home for $500.00 which is, even without to see it, a tremendous deal OR you say no and nothing change for me...

In my experience, here in Mass, the seller usually gets a deposit equal to 1% of the offer price. I've usually put down $1,000 or $2,000 as earnest money, so the seller knows they are not wasting their time. This money goes into an escrow account and is deducted from your closing costs; 1.)final deposit on the mortgage 2.)atty. fee 3.)bank fees 4.)any related property taxes, etc. This also ensures me that they are temporarily bound to me, the buyer, and they can't accept any other offers during our negotiating process. You risk losing this earnest money if your time runs out, but this can be adjusted through addendums to the contract. At any time, a new one can be drawn up and signed by all parties. So, it depends on the people involved.

A friend of mine was going to lose his earnest money and on the last day, decided to buy the house. The possibility of him losing his $1,000 was a major factor in his last minute decision to buy the house. I'd rather lose the $1k than get into a property that at the last minute you find needs a lot more work than you initially suspected it would need. But, then again you could always renegotiate at the last minute, the seller has already invested too much time in you and won't want to lose you over $1K.

Codythebest, and RehabEd you both got good points.

Lets say i am in the market to buy one house. I see some properties and like several of them. Now this deposit thing will really hold me making more then one offer. Since I would be afraid of loosing some of those money in case I get accepted by multiple sellers. To be on the safe side I probably have to offer one. Problem is with current market situation many properties I like are short sale. And banks generally take 2-3 weeks to make a decision. Thats a lot of time. If the property is not owned by a bank then its no problem.

I think what you need to do is focus more on what you like best, making multiple offers may cause problem, since you are afraid of losing money, it'll be keen if you decide fast since most of what you said are just short sales.