earnest money
1
7.2
- noun
- /ˈɜrnɪst ˈmʌni/
- Specialized
:
depósito de garantía
- When making an offer on a house, it's common to include earnest money to show you're serious about the purchase.
- earnest money deposit
- paid the earnest money
- earnest money check
Is up then you've got the chance of losing more money, which is your earnest money deposit.
- Is up then you've got the chance of losing more money, which is your earnest money deposit.
- Buyers walking away from like decent earnest money or down payments because they don't want to close, Agents failing to understand how do they help the client bridge the gap.
- Expiring the earnest money being refunded to buyer.
Examples
-
The seller was relieved to receive the earnest money, as it confirmed the buyer's commitment to finalize the deal.
-
We had seven days to turn in the earnest money and on day five we decided to not do it.
-
We have to give the earnest money back.
Fiction book (1998) -
Tell him he'll have to find them visas and put up earnest money.
Fiction book (1996) -
"We only had enough for earnest money for the Chapman."
Fiction book (1992) -
"You could put down earnest money to freeze the property," Irma, my new best friend, advised.
Fiction book (1992) -
They've already paid the earnest money; well, let them bring it up if they notice it at the final walkthrough.
Fiction book (2001) -
So that's why we're looking at earnest money and due diligence and not inspections, commissions, all of those things that can stack up.
-
To secure the property, you must submit an earnest money deposit along with your offer.
Synonyms
3
7.8
Money given to show you will complete a deal
1
9.9
A sum of money given to show you agree to a deal when buying or hiring
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'earnest' (a pledge or deposit) modifies 'money', so the meaning is money given as a pledge to secure a contract. This is a straightforward noun + noun/adjunct pattern that is predictable and parallels cross‑linguistic terms for deposits, so a learner who knows both constituents would infer the meaning.
Etymology
Earnest money comes from an older use of earnest meaning a serious pledge and the word money as the token given. People would give a small amount of money as a visible 'pledge' to show they really meant to buy something, and the seller could keep it if the buyer changed their mind. So, today earnest money means a deposit that shows commitment in a sale.