quick question. what do you think of agents asking for 500 deposits in order to submit offers – is this normal or can one refuse to pay???
Beats me, this is the first time I’ve heard of this![:0]
No-one ever asked me for deposits to just make an offer.
Have you asked WHY they want a deposit?[?]
I wonder what the others have to say about this as well!Never heard of it – I’d decline their generous offer.
Have you made an offer and then backed out with this agent previously?
Hi Guys,
I thought it was regular practise to place a small deposit when making an offer. Maybe it’s a Victorian thing. I think it may be to show that you are serious about your interest in the property. This is then taken off your deposit.
Has no-one else heard of this practise?
Sue [
]“Be careful not to step on the flowers when you’re reaching for the stars”
thanks guys – it has happened to me a few times recently. im just gonna say no. think its just a ploy to test yr seriousness. i think that if you buy and then say no during the cooling off period then they wont refund you the 500
>> think that if you buy and then say no during the cooling off period then they wont refund you the 500<<
That wouldn’t, couldn’t, be the case.
Pisces
tks pisces – infact thats what the agent said to me. think i will tell her a definate no then
heres why the neil jenmans of the world are good value.
i sent him the same question this morning to see what his spin on this is and he sent a reply w/in 5 minutes – all for free. well done neil
Dear aussierogue
Thanks for the enquiry.
It is not mandatory to pay a deposit when making an offer, although the Sellers may consider the offer more seriously, if a deposit were to accompany it.
Please call me on 1800 1800 18, should you wish to discuss this.
Regards
David Reardon
unqte
david obviously works for mr jenman
I thought it was common practice too..I’ve been asked on 2 occasions on QLD purchases. I went ahead with both purchases, so the deposit comes off the 10% deposit that is usually due in about 2 weeks after initial offer.
If I had chosen not to go through with the deals, I believe you might lose 10% of the 500$ you put down…Kyl
It sounds like they are asking for a “holding Deposit”. but it may only need to be .25% of the purchase price. So if they are asking for $500 then im assuming the value of the purchase would be around the $200 k mark???
Just thinking out aloud…
Jason
Here in QLD it is definately NOT LAW you must pay a deposit. I have complete sales on as little as a $50 deposit, but the general rule we use is 10% or thereabouts once the contract becomes unconditional.
TERMS OF CONTRACT REIQ
2.4 ENTITLEMENT TO DEPOSIT
(1) The party entitled to recieve the deposit is:
a. if the contract settles, the Seller
b. if the contract is terminated without default by the Buyer, the Buyer.
c. if the contract is terminated owing to the Buyers default, the Seller.If the Buyer terminates a contract during the cooling off period the Seller is entitled to recieve .025% of the purchase price from the Buyer. A smart Buyer will use finance or building inspections clauses to terminate a contract without penalty.
Never herd of an agent refusing to submit an offer without a deposit. I’d also be checking with the Office of Fair Trading if what they are doing is legal, and if keeping the deposit is legal ( I have my doubts).
Jarrod
Jarrod Lane Real Estate[]Exactly like Jarrod said, it cannot be possible for the agent to pocket the money. (unless he gives it another name perhaps ?).
I once was interested in a property, the price was acceptable to me and the agent asked me (pleaded with me) for some sort of deposit, a cheque, anything.
I didn’t have any money on me whatsoever. I told him that I definitely wanted to buy the property.
Despite the fact that he he knew me well (he was selling four dwellings for me at the time (and contracts had actually been issued) he showed the property to someone else an hour later who said O.K., ‘I want to buy’ and I missed out.
So, by the way, [
] did the real estate agent as I refused to proceed with the sales to his buyers (even though I did feel a twange of pity for his buyers) so I would think he has learned some sort of lesson out of all that.And so have I. (Never leave your cheque book at home).
Pisces
I recently had an experience in QLD with an agent telling me that it is illegal to submit an offer verbally. He said the only way to submit an offer in QLD is by completing the entire contract of sale. He went on to say that if you pull out during the cooling off period, there is no penalty. True story. It’s a good idea to do your own research. I paid $1000 deposit on acceptance of the offer when I did buy in QLD (with another agent). In NSW, I paid 10%.
JudiOh for the day when there is some uniformity in this country….
In WA a 10% deposit is normal, though with property prices increasing it is becoming less so. $500 will suffice on a cheap block of land etc. It is perfectly ok to not put down a deposit and the agent must still present the offer, but what vendor in their right mind would look twice at it?! You have timne to raise the deposit anyway so if you are serious I can’t see the problem. If I presented an offer to a seller for which there was no deposit I would expect the seller to reject it without hesitation – would be a big waste of time for everyone.
Extensive list of new Perth property available for sale.Alternatively, become a joint venture partner in one of our property development partnerships – contact me to find out why our developments are unique. John – 0419 198 856
Even with the WA deposit system, it is not necessary to pay it at the time of writing up the offer, ususally you pay it within 7 days of acceptance of the offer. I gather from the initial enquiry they were asking you to pay up front before they’d even show the offer to the vendor?
As for 10% being the norm in WA, well, I’ve never paid 10% as the deposit yet, the smallest I’ve paid was $200, the vendor did accept the offer and had a sale so their time wasn’t wasted at all. (I did have pre-approval though, so perhaps that made a difference although they never saw it, I just verbally told the agent I had it).
Yes, wouldn’t it be nice if every state did things the way! Boring though, we;d all know what each other were talking about….
PK
Fortune Favours the Bold.
Hi
I made an offer on one QLD property subject to… with a $50 deposit, balance in 14 days by deposit bond.
I signed a contract, once accepted by the seller, it was ‘sealed’ in terms of the offer subjec to….I made another offer on a property, I pulled out due to pest problems, again only $50 was left, the guy went belly up, and I had to fight the TRUST fund for my $50 back. I got it. Money is supposed to go to a trust fund.
I did the same on two other properties that I bought, but unless you sign and leave something, dont consider it will be there later…
So far I have pulled out of three contracts, adn got my money back for all.
cheers
Hi guys
In Canberra the agents would like you to leave $1000 to ‘show that you are serious’. This is always refundable if you do not exchange contracts. It’s also not very common to exchange contracts with any ‘subject tos’. ie, all pest and building inspections etc. are carried out BEFORE anybody signs any contracts. That’s just the way it’s done – with the added risk of gazumping if the agent is into that.
As for deposit required on exchange, that’s always negotiable (as is the $1000 mentioned before), and my recent purchases (and sale) has been only on $1000 down.
Cheers
Melmelbear,
v. interesting. I wonder if it’s become that way because it’s been such a hot market for so long and that soon it will be ‘duck season’ again i.e. a buyer’s market, and buyers will be able to put whatever clauses they feel like in, agian.
I always put a zillion subject to clauses in my offers when I put them in in NZ and so far never had a problem getting them accepted.
The one agents and vendors hate above all though, in my experience, is ‘subject to finance’ because that’s the reason 90 percent of deals fall over, not builder’s report, apparently.
cheers-
mini
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