The problem here is your agent thinks you are getting conventional financing. All you have to do is tell her that it’s a hard money contract and she’ll almost 90 percent know what to do from that point.
I wouldn’t offer more than $1000 EMD as you will have to get that $1000 from your end buyer. $1000 is enough skin in the game for a deal. There’s no one property you have to have.
Matter of fact it may be best if you don’t have any money to get aquainted with wholesaling other wholesalers deals to your buyers list. This is something I am doing to generate money to be more involved in making my own REO offers. I like it better this way and I don’t have to tie up an agents time knowing that I don’t have any EMD to put up if no one wants the house in 5 days or less!
You can wholesale other wholesalers deals with lint in your pocket, and you won’t be up under earnest money pressure, nor do you have to deal with realtors. This also gives you a large inventory of houses to provide your investors with.
I’d say flip a couple of wholesalers deals, get your money and then venture into making offers on the REO houses with an agent. This way you can step into the game correctly and you will know where your earnest money is coming from off the top. As long as you know what your investors want and you structure your offers properly you won’t have to worry much about losing your EMD. If you really want a lot of cushion so that you don’t lose your EMD then make offers on HUD homes because if you get a deal accepted you will have 60 days to close. Even if you did lose your EMD in the worst scenario are you going stop investing? NO!
It’s hard(not impossible) to flip an REO in 3-5 days max because you don’t have any earnest money and you’re expecting your investors to buy the house in that short time frame. In my experience I have not seen a scenario where the bank will allow you to put up your EMD after the inspection period. Each time I’ve tried that, the realtor always advises me against it, or the bank crosses it out.
The longest amount of time that I would say you could possibly get within reason from my understanding of the Standard Realtor Contract is contained within the clause that states “The earnest money shall be deposited in the HOLDERS escrow account within 5 banking days”. You can request that the EMD be HELD by your Buyers agent, which would enable you to not put the money up until 5 days from contract ratification. I think this is feasible, but even in this scenario by tradition the listing agent, or the closing attorney is the normal HOLDER of the earnest money. However I believe if you call them on this clause in the contract, they may have to honor it.
There are times when you send out an email blast to your list, some people don’t even get back to you until about 3 or 4 days. Not to say that you had a bad deal, but you have to understand that some of these people are busy, some don’t even check email that much, some may have stopped buying, or whatever the scenario. By that point you don’t have any leverage and the agents are wondering where your EMD is.
I tell you this because I’ve had it happen to me, so I know from experience what I’m saying in regard to this.