EMD funding wired straight to escrow
You've got a deal that works. The only thing in the way is a deposit you'd rather not have sitting in someone else's escrow account for the next 30 days. So we wire it instead.
What an earnest money deposit actually is
An earnest money deposit is the good faith money that holds your contract. It tells the seller you're serious, and it's what makes the contract stick.
On most residential deals it runs about 1% of the purchase price. On a $500,000 property, that's $5,000 due shortly after you go under contract.
A typical residential timeline runs about 30 days from contract to close. The first 10 to 14 days of that is your inspection period.
Inside the inspection period, if your contract is written correctly, you can walk and get the deposit back. Once you're past it, that money is usually locked in. That's the entire point of it.
Why investors fund the deposit instead of using their own cash
$5,000 doesn't sound like much. But run it against a real pipeline.
Put 10 properties under contract in a month and that's $50,000 of your own money sitting in escrow accounts doing nothing, for 30 days or more. Every month.
That capital isn't earning. It isn't available for the next deal. It's parked.
Here's the part that matters. A $5,000 deposit that unlocks a $20,000 spread pays for itself several times over, and you never had to touch your own capital to get there.
If $5,000 is all that stands between you and a $20,000 spread, that deposit is the cheapest money in the deal.
What EMD funding costs
We publish our rates. You'll know what a deal costs before you send it.
There are two numbers. You pay 5% of the funded amount up front, with a $1,500 minimum, and that covers a term of up to 30 days. When the deal closes, you pay 20% of the funded amount.
On a $10,000 deposit that's the $1,500 minimum up front and $2,000 at closing. On a $50,000 deposit it's $2,500 up front and $10,000 at closing.
The up-front fee pays our team to underwrite and process your file. We charge it because deals do get cancelled, and funding dead deals for free isn't a business that stays open long.
If your deal doesn't close, that up-front fee is the only money you're out. There's nothing else.
How fast we fund, and how much
We ask for 48 hours of notice. We've also funded a deal in five minutes. Both of those are true.
The 48 hours is what lets us verify your contract properly. The five minutes happens when a file arrives clean and complete and somebody's closing table is about to fall apart.
We fund up to $100,000 per transaction on EMD.
The money goes to the title company or escrow agent named on your contract. It never routes through you, because that's how a deposit is supposed to work.
A deal this made possible
We funded a $150,000 earnest money deposit on a large property.
The investor didn't have that much cash sitting idle, and without the deposit there was no contract to hold. So we wired it to escrow.
They wholesaled the property and made north of six figures on the transaction. We got paid our fee at closing.
That deal doesn't happen without the deposit. That's the whole product.
What we check before we fund
Every file gets verified against the contract. Not against what you typed into the form, against the signed contract itself.
Here's exactly what we're matching, so you can have it ready before you submit.
- A signed contract. No contract, no funding. This is the one we can't work around.
- The deposit amount you asked for matches the deposit amount written on the contract.
- The property address on your submission matches the address on the signed contract.
- Refundable status matches. If you tell us the deposit is refundable, the contract has to say so.
- The name on the submission is the name on the contract. You're the borrower, so you're the one we talk to and the one who signs.
- What you're asking for is actually earnest money, and not another kind of funding wearing that name.
Why deals get rejected
Most rejections come down to the same handful of things.
- No contract attached
- We can't verify a deal that doesn't exist on paper. This one is an automatic no.
- The numbers don't match
- You tell us $5,000 and the contract says $10,000. Now we don't know which is real, and we won't guess with our own money.
- Somebody else submitted your deal
- A connector or a friend fills the form out for you. But you're the borrower. You sign, you confirm, and we need you on the file from the start.
- It isn't earnest money
- People ask us for EMD when what they actually need is double close funding or a down payment. Those are different products with different terms.
If the deal falls apart
EMD deals die. Inspections turn up problems, sellers change their minds, buyers walk.
If yours does, we have the deposit sent back. Your only cost is the up-front fee you already paid.
There is no clawback, no penalty, and no interest running in the background.
We'd rather you read that here than find it in paragraph 14 of an agreement.
EMD for end buyers
We can fund earnest money for end buyers. There is one condition.
You and the seller need to sign an addendum that extends the inspection period through the close of escrow.
That keeps the deposit refundable for the life of the contract, which is what makes funding work on that side of the deal.
We'll send you the exact language when you submit.
Common questions
- How quickly can an earnest money deposit be funded?
- We ask for 48 hours of notice so we can verify your contract. We've funded in as little as five minutes when a file came in clean and the closing was about to fall apart.
- Does the EMD go to me or to escrow?
- Always to the title company or escrow agent named on your contract. The funds never route through the investor.
- What is the maximum earnest money deposit you fund?
- Up to $100,000 per transaction.
- What does EMD funding cost?
- 5% of the funded amount up front with a $1,500 minimum, which covers a term of up to 30 days, then 20% of the funded amount when the deal closes. On a $10,000 deposit that is $1,500 up front and $2,000 at closing.
- What happens if my deal doesn't close?
- We have the deposit sent back and your only cost is the up-front fee you already paid. There is no clawback, penalty, or interest.
- Do you run a credit check for EMD funding?
- No. We underwrite the transaction itself, which is why the signed contract matters more than your credit profile.
- Can you fund earnest money for an end buyer?
- Yes, provided you and the seller sign an addendum extending the inspection period through the close of escrow so the deposit stays refundable.
Send us the deal
Submit the contract and the deposit amount. We verify against the contract and come back to you with a yes or a no, not a maze.
Submit My DealOr you'd rather be on our side of the table
Some people read a page like this and think about their next deal. Others start doing the math on the funding side of it.
If that's you, I run a free group where I break down how this business actually works, including the parts nobody puts in the ads.
Join the free groupKeep reading
- Transactional funding for real estate investorsMoney that exists for one transaction and usually lives less than 24 hours. You borrow the purchase price, the deal closes, you sell, and it comes back the same day.
- Double close funding for the A-B legTwo contracts, two closings, one day. You buy from the seller and sell to your end buyer within hours, and we fund the purchase so your own money never has to show up.
- Stack method funding and the seller carrybackA new loan in first position, the seller carrying a note behind it, and the down payment funded so the buyer doesn't have to bring it. Done right it's powerful. Done wrong it's mortgage fraud.
Funding is for business-purpose real estate transactions and is subject to underwriting. Published rates are current and can change with the length and risk profile of a specific deal.