Yes it is legal. The homeowner may be asking it for different reasons. First, he/she may believe that the house won't appraise and wants to see if you have the money to make up the difference if need be. Second, they may want to know whether you are a serious buyer who can actually follow through on the transaction. We are in the midst of the Spring market and the seller may not want to tie up the house in contract with someone they're not sure can close on the deal. Good luck.

It is illegal to demand for a 10% percent.... but remember a buyers can put down 20%, 30% 40% it does make the deal stronger but at the end if the buyers does not get the loan "denied",whatever money they put down they gei it back..... so really is the same if they put down 3% or 10% at the end of the day what matters is to get the loan with the right program......

Yes. The homeowner may demand 10% down. In fact, this is rather common.

In short, in New York, the answer is en emphatic "yes." The Seller can demand anything they want. However, as others have already answered on this Q&A, if it is not agreed to by you, the Purchaser, then no deal will occur. As a practicing real estate lawyer in the NYC area, I have seen Sellers demand 25% down and as little as 0% - again, it is all market and deal driven. Good luck on your search and listen to the others on this string - you want the Seller to accept your offer so you need to make them comfortable - pre-approvals and higher deposits. Note, however, that pre-approvals mean very little and that there are a million (not literally) ways to get around this if a buyer wants out, but, at the very least, it assists the Seller in making his/her decision.

All the best,

Mark

The seller can ask any amount downpayment he feels comfortable with. Your job is to make your offer as strong as possible.

Good Luck

Yes, it is legal for a homeowner to ask for more of a downpayment. A seller may counter or reject an offer if their terms aren't met. Same goes for the buyer if they don't like the sellers counter offer on terms. That is just one condition that has to be agreed upon by both parties in a transaction.

I have been hearing agents in our market talking about the lenders requiring more of a downpayment especially in declining markets. The seller probably wants to feel more secure that his property will close.

Good Luck!

If you need to put less than 10% down, provide the seller with a Full LENDER pre-approval that contains only two contingencies: A contract and an Appraisal...that's almost like cash!

KB,
I hope that things are going well for you in Buffalo, I worked with Sorrento Cheese and spent sometime back there a few years ago.
Okay, here is the simple truth. If a seller does not like the terms he can counter an offer or just decline the offer without a counter. Your agent should find out what is important to the seller so that you can make the proper offer. A seller may not want to accept an offer with less than 10% down because of our current mortgage situation. Did you present the seller with a pre-approval letter from your mortgage company? Maybe a larger initial deposit would suffice? This is where your agent needs to build his relationship with the sellers agent and make the deal happen. You have a seller that wants to sell his home and a buyer wants to purchase it, now it is up to the agents to make it happen in a win-win fashion!

Charles Coachman

In the sale and purchase of a home, the terms and conditions are very often as important as the price that is being offered. Those terms and conditions include the amount of money that the prospective buyer is able and willing to put down at contract plus the additional amount of money that the buyer is able and willing to put down as cash at the closing, the time by which the buyer will close on the home, whether the buyer has another property that must be sold prior to the proposed purchase, etc.

Since the seller will be taking the home off the market between signing the contract and closing on the home, it is important to know that the buyer intends to apply for a mortgage in good faith and is confident that they can get that mortgage. Especially in this mortgage climate, many lending institutions are refusing to offer more than 80% financing for a residential property.

Thus, it is not only legal, but also prudent, for the homeowner to ask for a minimum of 20% cash in the transaction, with 10% down at contract and a minimum of an additional 10% down at closing.

I don't think it's illegal, but I don't know for sure and it may vary by state, etc. When a home seller accepts an offer they want to make sure it goes to completion, as their home is off the market while you are doing your due diligence (inspections, getting financing, and other contingencies). With more strict banking guidelines, the days of 0% down and "interest only" loans are gone, esp. when a borrower fits into the sub-prime group! I think the seller wants to ensure that if they are taking their home off the market (others typically won't make a back-up offer once it's in "sale pending"), that you'll get to escrow. Granted, if you were pre-approved by 3-4 banks with less than a 10% payment, I don't see why they wouldn't be willing to work with you.