Brokers pushing for non-refundable deposits?

June 23, 2025
by a searcher from University of Virginia-Darden - Darden School of Business in Charlottesville, VA, USA
All,
We've been getting some good traction on the LOIs, which is great. In both of our LOIs, the brokers have asked for a deposit. We've negotiated them to be refundable, but still it seems odd to me. One of the brokers pushed for a non-refundable deposit. (Hard no on that one.) We proposed a reciprocal breakup fee put in escrow so we don't get burned like we did in the last time where the seller decided to walk at the last minute.
So two questions:
1) With the increase of folks in the ETA space, have you seen an uptick in brokers asking for deposits?
2) Have you had luck with a reciprocal agreement?
from University of North Carolina at Wilmington in West Palm Beach, FL, USA
from University of Chicago in Orlando, FL, USA