Buying a homeAll terms starting with E
Earnest money
Also called: emd, earnest money deposit, good faith deposit
A deposit made with an offer to show the buyer is serious, held in trust and credited toward closing.
Earnest money is deposited with a neutral party after acceptance and applied to your down payment or closing costs at closing. It is not an extra cost, but it is money committed early.
Whether it is refundable depends entirely on the contingencies and their deadlines. Within a live contingency, a buyer who withdraws properly generally recovers it; after those deadlines pass, it is at risk.
Related terms
- ContingencyA condition in the purchase contract that must be satisfied, or the buyer can withdraw without losing earnest money.
- Down paymentThe share of the purchase price you pay in cash, becoming your starting equity in the property.
- Closing costsThe lender, title, and third-party fees due at closing: separate from your down payment.
- REPC (Real Estate Purchase Contract)Utah’s standard residential purchase contract, which sets the deadlines the whole transaction runs on.
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