Whats a typical deposit to be paid for a house?

[Sunflower123]

HI I was wondering if someone could give me some advice, Ive just had an offer accepted on a house and have been told they want 15K as deposit with 48hrs. Is this the norm? The mortgage broker seems to think its very high. The house is 685k.

 

[mf1]

There are two deposits payable.

1. A Booking Deposit to the Estate Agent - which is what you are being asked to pay now. This is paid pre-contract and is paid to show good faith on your part. The amount is not fixed but is typically 2% ish so that EA has ready access to their fees when the deal completes. It is however entirely negotiable.
2. A further non refundable deposit is payable on signature of binding Contracts. This has been typically a total of 10% ( including the booking deposit) when times were good. Nowadays it is very flexible. It can easily be negotiated downwards but a vendor will be suspicious of someone who does not want to pay any deposit. Typically nowadays a total of 4-5% would be most acceptable.

In the event that the sale falls through after Contract and through no fault of the Vendor, they can keep the deposit. This is potent tool in an uncertain market and definitely sorts out the messers.

mf

 

[Madangan]

This is a booking deposit,I presume , being paid to an estate agent? Typically,in my experience it is usually slightly in excess of what the estate agents ultimate fee (payable by vendor) is. (Pure coincidence I'm sure)
So to that extent it is not extremely high. However there are no hard and fast rules on the size of the booking deposit so if I were you I would tell them that you will pay a booking deposit of say €7,500 with balance of deposit payable when you sign contracts in the usual way. The deposit paid on signing of contract is typically 10% so in this scenario on signing contract the balance you would pay would be €68500-€6500. However bear in mind that it may be possible to negotiate a less than 10% deposit.