Looking at a spec home with some upgrades from a new builder. House is currently in framing.
Builder is asking $689,990 and $15k earnest with $2500 non refundable. We will have a contingency because we need to sell our house first.
Is there any negotiation on the amount of earnest money? Ideally we’d like to only put down 1% just to have some extra cash in the bank.
Posted by Civil_Mango8479
8 Comments
Most builders are pretty firm on their earnest money requirements, especially for spec homes that are already under construction. The $15k they’re asking is probably standard for their price point
You could always ask but don’t be surprised if they say no – they want to make sure you’re serious since they’ve already started building
Ask your agent
$15k earnest money, but if they fuck something so bad that the deal has to be cancled they still get to keep 13k?
Everything is negotiable and this is absolutely something I’d be willing to walk away from the deal if they don’t accommodate you.
Totally negotiable
For the price point that seems fairly typical for a production builder IMO, (and *only* $2.5k being nonrefundable isn’t horrid either). Your agent can certainly try to have it brought down, but depending on what contingencies they’re allowing in the contract that may be the price of admission as they say.
If you don’t mind sharing a bit, what contingencies will exist, (as I’m always intrigued when agents are able to get language added into a production builder’s contract, which are infamously one-sided towards them from the start)? Inspections? Completion timeframe? Other?
non refundable is a deal breaker for me.
Then again I wouldn’t buy a house built from 2018 till now…. crappy work, corners cut. New doesn’t mean better at all !
Could it be that the builder wants the $2500 non refundable as they are doing something “custom” for the buyer. Even something minor like a paint color?
I sold one of my remodels prior to finishing it a few years ago and the buyers asked for something I wasn’t planning on doing. So I made a portion of the deposit non-refundable in case they dropped out and I had to revert to the original plan.
The builder is probably gonna be pretty firm on it. That being said, I would never agree to a nonrefundable portion.