First: no deposit checks are due at the time of submitting an offer. Almost all offers are submitted electronically in today’s world. Gone are the days of walking the offer over to the seller’s house, sitting down to a cup of coffee with the sellers and both agents in the room to negotiate the sale.

So, when will the checks be delivered?

Three things must be done before deposit checks are due:

• the seller must accept your offer
• they must sign the contract (this date becomes the official “effective date” for the contract)
• you have been properly informed of the offer acceptance.

Once those three criteria have been fulfilled, it is finally time to write out the deposit checks.

The Due Diligence Fee is made out directly to the sellers and must be delivered on the effective date or within 24 hours. This can be delivered in the form of cash, personal check, official bank check, wire transfer or electronic transfer.

The Earnest Money Deposit is made out to the escrow agent (who is most often the closing attorney) and can be delivered up to 5 days after the effective date. Once again, this can be delivered in the form of cash, personal check, official bank check, wire transfer or electronic transfer.

Now I should clarify that I use some tactics regarding the deposit checks which help my buyers win homes in a competitive market. If you want to be on the winning side of those secret tactics, then you will just have to make me your Realtor 😉

I hope this helped clear up any confusion about timing of deposits for home purchases in our great state of North Carolina!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this topic and I will be happy to discuss it with you in more detail!

(Click here to learn more about North Carolina’s two different deposits.)

Happy Home Buying & Selling in North Carolina!