The Short Answer: 1-2% of the Purchase Price
Across the hundreds of transactions we coordinate every year, most earnest money deposits land between 1% and 2% of the purchase price. On a $350,000 home, that means $3,500 to $7,000. It’s not a fixed rule — it’s a market norm that shifts based on where you’re buying, what the market looks like, and how competitive the situation is.
Table of Contents
▼If you’re not sure what earnest money is in the first place, start there. This article is about the specific dollar amounts — what’s normal, what’s too little, what’s aggressive, and how the number actually gets decided.
Real Numbers at Different Price Points
Percentages are helpful, but real dollar amounts make the decision tangible. Here’s what 1-2% looks like across common purchase prices:
| Purchase Price | 1% Earnest Money | 2% Earnest Money |
|---|---|---|
| $200,000 | $2,000 | $4,000 |
| $350,000 | $3,500 | $7,000 |
| $500,000 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
| $750,000 | $7,500 | $15,000 |
At the lower end of the market, flat-dollar minimums often come into play. A $150,000 property at 1% would be $1,500 — and that’s fine. But sellers on a $100,000 property probably aren’t going to accept $500 in earnest money even though that’s technically half a percent. There’s a practical floor.
Most markets have an unspoken minimum of $500 to $1,000, regardless of purchase price. Below that, the deposit starts to feel symbolic rather than substantive.
What Influences How Much You Offer
The earnest money amount isn’t random. Several factors push it higher or lower.
Market Conditions
This is the biggest driver. In a hot seller’s market with multiple offers, buyers routinely push earnest money to 2-3% — sometimes higher — to show commitment. We’ve seen 5% earnest money deposits in competitive markets where buyers wanted to stand out from a stack of ten offers.
In a balanced or buyer-friendly market, 1% is standard and nobody questions it. Some buyers go as low as $1,000 flat in slow markets and sellers accept it without pushback.
Purchase Price
Higher-priced homes tend to generate higher earnest money deposits in dollar terms, though the percentage often stays the same or even drops slightly. A buyer putting $15,000 down on a $750,000 home is at 2%. A buyer putting $5,000 down on the same property is at less than 1% — and depending on the market, that might raise eyebrows.
Local Customs and Norms
Real estate is local. What’s expected in Dallas is different from Miami, which is different from Denver.
In Texas, 1% is the standard. The TREC contract has a blank line where the buyer fills in the amount, and most agents default to 1% of the list price. It works. In parts of the Northeast and West Coast, expectations tend to run higher — 2-3% is more common as a starting point.
Seller Expectations
Sometimes the listing agent specifies a minimum earnest money amount right in the MLS listing. “Seller requests minimum 2% earnest money” isn’t uncommon in competitive price ranges. It’s not binding until it’s in a signed contract, but ignoring it usually means your offer gets passed over.
Some sellers counter the earnest money amount specifically. A buyer offers $2,000 and the seller comes back wanting $5,000. It’s negotiable, just like the price, the closing date, and everything else in the offer.
When to Offer More Than the Standard Amount
There are situations where going above 1-2% makes strategic sense.
Multiple-offer situations. When five buyers are competing for the same property, the earnest money amount is one more way to signal seriousness. A buyer offering $10,000 earnest money on a $400,000 home stands out against a buyer offering $2,000 — even if everything else is identical. It tells the seller you’re committed and less likely to walk.
Waiving contingencies. Buyers who waive inspection or appraisal contingencies sometimes pair that with higher earnest money. The logic: if you’re confident enough to skip contingencies, putting more money on the line reinforces that confidence. We see this more in competitive markets than anywhere else.
New construction or long closings. Builders often request larger earnest money deposits — sometimes $10,000-$25,000 or more — because the timeline is longer and they’re committing resources to a specific buyer. This is separate from typical resale norms.
When Less Earnest Money Makes Sense
Not every situation calls for a big deposit.
Buyer’s market. When inventory is high and sellers are waiting for offers, $1,000 or 1% is perfectly acceptable. There’s no need to tie up extra cash when you have negotiating leverage.
Cash-flow concerns. Earnest money comes out of the buyer’s pocket before closing. If a buyer is stretching to cover the down payment and closing costs, tying up an extra $5,000 in escrow for 30-45 days can create real strain. A reasonable earnest money amount keeps the deal moving without putting the buyer in a tough spot.
Investment properties. Investors buying multiple properties simultaneously often keep earnest money deposits lean — $1,000 to $2,000 per property — to preserve liquidity across several deals. Most sellers in the investment space understand this.
The Risk of Going Too Low
There’s a floor below which earnest money stops being a good-faith gesture and starts being a red flag.
Offering $500 on a $400,000 home is technically allowed. Nobody is going to stop you. But from the seller’s perspective, it signals uncertainty. If this buyer isn’t willing to put meaningful money at risk, how serious are they? Will they bail at the first bump in the road?
Listing agents notice this. In our experience coordinating transactions, low earnest money offers get more scrutiny during negotiations and sometimes get rejected outright — not because of the purchase price, but because of the perceived commitment level.
If you’re putting in an offer, don’t let the earnest money amount be the reason it gets overlooked. Match the market norm at minimum.
Texas Earnest Money: What’s Typical
Since a large portion of our transactions are in Texas, it’s worth calling out the specifics.
The TREC 1-4 Family Residential Contract includes a blank field for the earnest money amount. There’s no pre-printed default. The buyer’s agent fills it in when writing the offer.
The norm in Texas is 1% of the purchase price. On a $300,000 home in the DFW metroplex, $3,000 is the number that shows up in the vast majority of contracts we process. Houston, San Antonio, Austin — same story, with occasional upward pressure in the hottest neighborhoods.
Texas buyers also need to know: the TREC contract specifies that earnest money must be delivered within a set number of days after the effective date. We track this deadline on every single file. Late delivery is a contract default, and it’s entirely avoidable.
For buyers looking at Florida transactions, the norms and contract forms are different — that’s worth reading separately.
Does Earnest Money Go Toward Your Down Payment?
Yes. The earnest money gets credited toward the buyer’s costs at closing. It’s not an additional expense — it’s an advance on what you’d already owe.
So if you’re buying a $350,000 home with 10% down ($35,000) and you put down $3,500 in earnest money, you’d owe $31,500 at the closing table for the down payment portion. The earnest money is already sitting with the title company and gets applied automatically.
This is also why the amount matters from a refund perspective. If something goes wrong and the deal falls through within your contingency protections, that earnest money is refundable. If the deal falls through outside your protections, you could lose it. The more you’ve deposited, the more you have at stake.
How We Handle Earnest Money as Transaction Coordinators
Our role in the earnest money process is straightforward: verification and tracking.
When we receive a new contract-to-close file, we:
- Confirm the earnest money amount matches what’s stated in the executed contract
- Note the delivery deadline and add it to our tracking system
- Verify receipt with the title company or escrow holder once the buyer delivers
- Flag discrepancies — if the contract says $5,000 but the title company received $3,500, we notify the agents immediately so it gets resolved
We don’t handle the funds. We don’t advise on how much to offer. But we make sure the contractual terms around earnest money are being followed, because a small oversight here can derail an otherwise clean transaction.
