I’m a first-time home buyer and I don’t have an agent so I need as much help as I can get. I really love this particular house but there have been several offers so I don’t want to hire a realtor because I think that might just give me the edge in this buying competition.
My question is this: How do you make an Earnest Money Deposit? I’ve read that it should be about $1000 or 1% of the purchase price and that it should be a check made payable to a third party or an escrow account. However, I want to know WHERE do you do this depositing process? At a bank in front of an agent? Who should be there when I make the money deposit and contract besides the seller’s realtor and myself? Who should this third party (to make the check payable to)? If the realtor is from Remax, should I make the check payable to the Remax company? Or should I ask the realtor? What if the realtor told me to give the money directly to his/her or the seller?
I have that happened to me before, the seller’s realtor told me to deposit in cash and I didn’t know any better then. I know not all realtors are like that but I’m afraid I might be fooled again.