A little piece of advice for anyone who chooses to purchase real estate without involving an agent. Never let the seller hold your earnest money! I recently came across a buyer who decided to purchase a home listed for-sale-buy-owner. The two parties used a lawyer to draw up the agreement, and the earnest money was given to the seller. After some time had passed, the buyer realized that this wasn’t the home for him and wanted out of the deal. And, I might add, he had every contractual right to back out of the agreement. But when the buyer requested a refund of his earnest money, he learned that it had already been deposited (and probably spent!) by the seller. You guessed it; my buyer had great difficulty getting even a portion of his earnest money back, even when he should contractually have received the whole amount. The moral of the story is, when you are purchasing a home on your own, be sure to have an escrow company, a lawyer, a trust account or a third, disinterested party hold your earnest money.