Earnest money in a residential real estate contract is a deposit. It is put up by the buyer, typically held in escrow by the settlement agent, which in Florida could be a title company or an attorney and it's really the way that the buyer is telling the seller, look, I'm serious about buying your home and I'm going to put an amount of money, which is usually negotiated between the seller and the buyer.

 

It could be a thousand it could be more, it could be ten thousand it depends. I might risk losing my deposit if I don't close. It's really another way that the buyer is going to show that they have good faith in closing and put a little pressure on the buyer so they close because if they don't close and it's no fault of the seller they might lose their deposit.

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