$5000 EMD standard in CA?!!

I have not seen this in Colorado however I do see that offers are not being accepted with out earnest money with the offer. Stating you will pay earnest money when the contract is accepted or when your financing is approved or whatever, is not working anymore. Agents and lenders are wise to what investors are trying to do. Get control of the property with no money down and if they can't find a buyer they don't close. Why would the agents want to waste there time on a bunch of newbee investors trying to purchase something they have no money to buy in the first place. There are more and more rookie investors making multiple low ball offers that have no backing and are not able to PRODUCE if the offer is accepted.
Do your home work, make intelligent offers backed up by your numbers that you have come to by doing your due diligence. Don't waste the time of the people on your team until you have educated yourself. (Deans book, success academy)Believe me there are very few successful investors that live by the "pray and spray" method of making offers with a bunch of weasel contingencies in there contracts, you may get one now and then but that is not how to build a successful RE business.
All of the above is all the more reason for beginning no money down investors to work directly with a motivated seller and get the contract between you and the home owner and assign it to a buyer!

Just my opinion!

Go out and make some offers!
Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

We just submitted an offer today on a REO; it was just the contract with POF since we are paying cash the agent asked what EMD we wanted to put up after the contract was accepted. We decided on $ 2K. This has been our practice on all our offers, REOs, Probates/Estates, & even regular MLS listings. We believe if the offer is justified & you are closing quickly(we've done 3 day cash closings the regular mls listings) you can reasonably
control the terms of the contract.

I am in CA, I have asked this in the past. i was making offers with $500 EMD, after a few weeks my agent gave up on me, she said it was too small and need at least $5K. Then now i have an agent who is willing to work with me with $1K. I'm sure other people here have own experience.
Good luck.

are $500-$1000. My agent told me this is a good number. I've bought 5 and am working on 2 more in CA, and I've never put in more than 1K of deposit, except on my primary residence. 5K is NOT a requirement nor is it a standard. You are the one in control. Tell your agent you are submitting the offer with $500 to 1K deposit.

The higher the purchase price, the higher you want your EMD to be as a rule. With my offers, I copy my check and submit the copy with the offer; if its accepted I send the check in or I wire it to escrow direct.

All of us come to this site at different points in our REI career. Some of us are new; some are much more experienced. This site is great at making all of us feel welcome and for me it took a while just to feel comfortable enough to respond to a post. I think it is a mistake to forget that we were all new once upon a time.

Michael -- as a somewhat new Investor, I feel you can read all the books, do all the due diligence you talk about and things out of your control can still happen. "Pray and Spray" -- WOW! I could be wrong (and hope I'm not putting my foot in my mouth) but as I read Dean's books didn't Matt Larson call it the 25 to 1 ratio? He made low offers on 25-30 properties and only expected to close on 1 of them. Since Dean is always referring to Matt's success as an investor, why wouldn't rookie investors imitate his method?

No disrespect, that's just my humble opinion.

i total agree with you sirlancealot,if we newbies listen to Micheal"s theory this would stop a whole lot of us from every atempting to invest.but however i do understand what he 's get at. but lets not disincourge but to incourge one another to succeed . and yes! No Disrespect!

On my opinion stated above.
1. I stated in Colorado these trends are happening, these methods and strategies may still work like gangbusters in other areas.
2. I think Matt actually has a formula and attacks certain areas and properties with a certain criteria. He or his very rare realtor do some due diligence. He also closes on his deals! Why would Matt make an offer on a house priced for the end buyer that did not have much rental potential?
3. I was not trying to discourage any new investors as I stated it is much easier to work directly with the home owner (A helpful tip that is also in Deans books)
4. I stand by my statement "there are very few investors that LIVE by the pray and spray method" I did not say it was impossible! When I say live I mean they base there investment career on that method.
5. I try to provide real world information when I post that will help get new investors on track. Working directly with home owners requires that you start MARKETING for sellers and buyers and building those lists. Do you think this is a better way to get started and you will learn more than making 25 to 1 offers on stuff you have no clue about?
6. Making 25 to 50 offers and keeping your realtor requires knowledge and the ability to offer on deals that have the possibility of working and then closing.

Anyway, I did not intend to discourage anyone, this business takes a thick skin, deals will fall through, people won't produce etc. Stick with it and think about your acquisition and exit strategy on EVERY deal. Donald Trump says that, he might know what he is talking about!

My opinions mostly, good luck to all!
Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC