New KW technology will allow consumers to search for homes like never before. Our Chief Innovation Officer will explain.
Want to Buy a Home? Search All Homes
Want to Sell a Home? Get a Home Value Report
What To Know About Earnest Money Deposits
What is an earnest money deposit and what role does it play in a real estate transaction?
We’ll be tackling this question today.
Want to Buy a Home? Search All Homes
Want to Sell a Home? Get a Home Value Report
When you find the house of your dreams, you show the seller you’re serious by writing a check. This is known in the industry as an earnest money deposit.
By law, this sum must be deposited into the title company’s or broker’s escrow account within two days from the final acceptance of the offer.
Essentially, earnest money deposits (otherwise known as a good faith deposit) represents your commitment to buying the home. It shows the seller you’re operating in good faith and allows them to label the home as “Contingent” in the multiple listing system.
As a result of this, the number of showings the seller takes on may decrease while you, the buyer, go through the due diligence period. The larger your earnest money deposit, the more certain the seller will be of your desire to purchase the house.
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The larger your earnest money deposit, the more certain
the seller will be of your desire to purchase the house.
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This deposit can range from about $1,000 to 10% of the home’s sales price. In multiple offer situations, you may want to increase this amount to make your offer more attractive.
Keep in mind, though, that this amount will not be refunded to you if you break the terms of the contract and walk away from the deal.
However, if you meet all of the deadlines and contingencies of the contract, such as the inspection, appraisal, and title review, then the earnest money will be applied toward your down payment at closing.
If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
When you’re on a property detail page, it’s really important to get all the information about a house as quickly as possible, and with our new KW Search app (available in 2019), you can do that with ease.
There are a couple things you can do differently with our consumer app that you can’t do in all the other apps:
1. Get the home DNA profile. The home DNA is based on your search criteria, and as you use the app, it finds out what you like and don’t like. It trains very similarly to Amazon or Netflix.
2. Customizable. On the Any Home app, you can easily favorite or hide a home from ever showing up again.
3. Agent-client connectivity. If you’re working with an agent, that agent has the ability to recommend homes and give you comments about why a particular home might be great for you and your family.
4. Photo organization. It breaks down all the photos by room allowing you to simply click on a category and see all the photos of that space, including the interior and exterior of the home. Further still, if you double tap a photo, it will show you all the tags that are found in that photo. These tags will point out various aspect of the room or area, and the consumer can point out what they like about these tags, which will train their home DNA. This allows for a very curated search.
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As you use the app, it finds out what you like and don’t like. It trains very similarly to Amazon or Netflix.
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5. Commute calculator. With the app, you can plug in the address of your work and calculate the commute time between a property and your work.
6. Collaboration. You can actually start private discussions on any home and also invite your agent, co-buyer, or family members to engage you in a discussion right on the app.
7. Property pages. Whenever you’re looking at a property, there will be a feature that allows you to see the neighborhood it’s in and key features about that neighborhood. Then you can go explore the area on the map, allowing you to find out what it’s like to live in any neighborhood for any home.
8. Request tour. At the bottom of the app, there are two buttons: One to contact the agent for the listing, and the other that allows you to schedule a time to visit the home.
This app could truly change the way that consumers search for homes and interact with sellers and their agents. To find out more or to address any questions you have, please reach out to Toth Team Worldwide. We’d be glad to help.