$1 deposit!!!

This is how I understand it (I am fr Qld) :
When you, the buyer, makes a written offer , the contract is not “legally” legal unless money has been exchanged hence paying a small amount , even $1 will do , just to make your offer legal . It is easier to pay by a personal cheque rather than cash because in case the offer did not come through , agent can just send your cheque back to you. This $50 is not the deposit. Usually within one business day once the vendor signs his/her acceptance of the offer, you then have to pay the deposit and this deposit amount (around 5% or 10% of contract price) has already been negotiated at the time you were making/signing your offer .

Regards,

I have just put down 2K on a 600K property and everyone was happy.

‘You will never go broke taking a profit’

Yes, I agree, Redwing- if you use clauses in the correct way you do not lose your deposit as a buyer.

But what I am concerned about are not the clauses, they are just part of the process, and are fair and sensible; what concerns me is what can potentially happen after the cooling off-period if there is a $1 deposit…

Is this a buyer who is not being genuine in their intention of buying?
The vendor does usually not know the buyer- they are total strangers. How can the vendor make sure that the buyer is not going to completely mess him/her over?

Property investors can and do put down several very low deposits on properties. Will they drop out of the deal at the last minute before settlement because they suddenly have seen a better deal?

I just want to protect myself as a vendor by only accepting genuine offers and genuine (10%) deposits.

It’s just a matter of how I feel about the sincereness of the interest in the property and the respect I am being paid.

There is nothing the buyer would lose except his $1 deposit, if this is the amount that is sitting in the REA trust fund.
The vendor, however, has to start over from scratch.

There is a so-called Guru who advised buyers to:
Quote: …”think of yourself as the hungry fox chasing the scared hare…
The hare will run if you chase, and it will get scared and act wildly if you corner it.”

Well, *Moi* wanna be a hare with an edge! The fox’s fat deposit sitting in my REA fund gives the hare the edge. If the fox jumps at moi, moi moves away and woooohoooo there goes the fox, right over the edge. Moi can wave him goodbye without losing out.

But seriously, I just feel that I can sleep better knowing that the deposit is a bit more than 5 cents or $1.

Celivia

soooo.. what happens if someone puts down a 10-20% deposit, has the contract subject to finance at the purchasers discretion (or similar wording), you get the deposit, then, they get rejected for finance (maybe just had a few too many late loan payments) and they pull out (providing you with a letter of finance refusal from a bank)..they still get their money back?

$1, $1,000 or $10,000 what does it matter then?

However, what about a situation where I offer you $1 deposit, slightly less than the selling price you want (much less if a distressed sale), 24-48 hrs to make a decision and 7-14 days settlement..NOT subject to finance..can be tempting?

REDWING

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