Ask Team 912: What’s the Right Earnest Money Amount on an Investor Deal?
Q:
I’m about to write an offer on a triplex in Thomas Square at $545K. My agent says “$1,000 is fine — it’s an investor deal.” A friend who flipped houses in Atlanta says “$20K minimum or the listing agent won’t take you seriously.” That’s a 20x spread. What’s the actual right number, and what’s the risk of getting it wrong in either direction? — Investor in Denver, two browser tabs deep into Georgia contract law
A:
Short answer: on a $545K Savannah investment property, the right earnest money in 2026 is $5,000–$10,000, depending on how competitive the listing is and what you want to signal. $1,000 makes you look like you’re not serious. $20K makes you look like you don’t know how earnest money works. In a market with 86–143 days on market, the leverage is yours — use it.
Why “what’s standard” is the wrong question
Externally, there is no fixed rule. Earnest money in Georgia is whatever the contract says it is. Common ranges run from 1% to 3% of purchase price for retail buyers and from $5,000–$10,000 on investor deals regardless of price. On a $545K triplex, 1% is $5,450 and 2% is $10,900. The number isn’t determined by a rule; it’s determined by what signal you want to send and what risk you’re willing to carry inside your due diligence window.
Internally, investors have two opposite anxieties. New investors are afraid of losing the deposit, so they undershoot and look unserious. Experienced investors are afraid of looking unserious, so they overshoot and tie up capital they didn’t need to. Both come from the same misunderstanding: thinking earnest money is the seller’s leverage. It isn’t. It’s your signal of intent, fully refundable inside your due diligence window in Georgia. The only way it stops being your money is if you blow your own deadline.
Philosophically, earnest money is a signaling instrument, not a risk instrument. The risk is determined entirely by your contract’s contingencies and your own calendar discipline. The signal is determined by what the seller and listing agent read when they see the number. Investors who treat earnest money as risk overpay for protection they already have for free.
I’ve written hundreds of investor offers in Savannah since 2004 across STR, MTR, LTR, and commercial deals. Here’s the logic I’d run on your triplex.
Step 1: Match the earnest money deposit to the listing’s competitive temperature
Pull two numbers on the listing: days on market and price reductions. If the triplex has been listed 60+ days with one or more price cuts, the seller is hoping for any offer that closes. $5,000 earnest is plenty; you don’t need to signal anything beyond “we will actually close.” If the listing is under 21 days, well-priced, and the agent has noted other showings, bump to $8,000–$10,000 to signal that you’re competitive without giving away purchase-price equity.
On your specific Thomas Square triplex, the right number lives in this $5K–$10K band. Anything below $5K looks like a wholesaler’s opening bid — listing agents in Savannah have seen enough of those to read $1K as “this buyer is going to retrade or walk.” Anything above $10K is paying a premium nobody asked you to pay.
Step 2: Protect your earnest money with the calendar, not the dollar amount
In Georgia, your earnest money is refundable if you terminate inside the Due Diligence Period or under specific named contingencies (financing, appraisal). Your $5,000 deposit is exactly as safe as your $1,000 deposit, provided you respect your own deadlines. The size of the check has zero effect on your refund rights inside the window. It only affects what happens if you blow the window.
A client of mine — attorney out of Charlotte — put $10K earnest on a Downtown Savannah duplex last year. Inspection turned up a cracked foundation. We terminated via Unilateral Notice on Day 11 of a 14-day diligence period. He had his $10K back in his account inside 5 business days. The size of the deposit didn’t matter. The discipline on the diligence window did.
Step 3: Use the deposit as one of three negotiation levers, not the headline
If you want to make your offer more competitive without raising your price, raise earnest money, shorten diligence, or sweeten closing date — in that order of cost. Earnest money is the cheapest signal because it’s fully refundable; shortening diligence costs you optionality; closing date flexibility costs you almost nothing if you’re prepared. Most investors do the opposite — they raise purchase price first because it’s the easiest move to communicate. That’s the most expensive choice on the board.
On your triplex: if your agent tells you the seller is weighing two offers, go to $10K earnest, 10-day diligence (not 14), and a closing date that mirrors what the seller has hinted they want. You’ve made yourself meaningfully more attractive without conceding any purchase-price equity. If you lose the deal anyway, the seller’s other offer was probably never real, or it was at a price you wouldn’t have wanted to match.
What this costs if you get it wrong vs. right
Get it wrong on the low end: you write $1,000 earnest on a $545K deal, the listing agent shows the offer to their seller, and the seller selects another offer at the same price with $7,500 earnest because it “signals seriousness.” You lose the deal not because of price but because of optics. That’s a $545K asset gone for the price of looking like you knew what you were doing.
Get it wrong on the high end: you put $25K earnest because your friend in Atlanta said to, then your diligence finds an issue, and now $25K is tied up in escrow for the 5–7 business days it takes to process the refund. You’ve effectively frozen capital you could have used to make a better offer on the next property. Multiply across a few deals a year and you’re holding back tens of thousands from working capital for no reason.
Get it right: $5K–$10K earnest, tight diligence window, calendar discipline. Your offer reads as serious, your capital stays mobile, and you sleep through the diligence period because you’re going to make your decision a day early anyway.
The recap, and where to go from here
Match the deposit to the listing’s competitive temperature ($5K–$10K is the band on most $400K–$700K Savannah investor deals). Protect the deposit with calendar discipline, not dollar amount. Use earnest money as a cheap signal, not an expensive risk. Then make the offer that buys you the property without overcommitting capital that can stay in your account earning interest.
Writing an offer this week on a specific Savannah property? Talk through the offer strategy with Team 912 before you send it. We’ll set the earnest money, the diligence window, and the contingency stack against the listing’s actual competitive temperature — not against guesses. Use the Team 912 ROI calculator to confirm the underlying deal math first.
Want the offer template Team 912 uses for investor deals — the one our clients have used to close hundreds of Savannah properties? Grab the Team 912 Savannah Investor Neighborhood Guide for the framework, then book a call to apply it to your specific deal.
Have a real estate investing question you want answered in this series? Email julie@team912.com with the subject line ASK TEAM 912. We answer one a week.
About the Author
Julie Gates leads Team 912, an all-investor real estate team at RE/MAX Accent in Savannah, GA. She has been investing in the Savannah market since 2004 and has helped clients across the country buy income-producing real estate in coastal Georgia. Reach the team at julie@team912.com or (912) 600-2893.
