When you first make on offer on a property, you will be asked what you’d like to put down as a deposit. To make it confusing, there are two definitions of ‘deposit’ you will come across when you are in the home purchase process.
The first is the ‘deposit’ that the bank will ask of you. Here they are asking how much you money you will be ‘putting into’ your home or how much are you personally contributing that is not loaned from the bank.
The deposit the Real Estate Agent or lawyer is talking about is the one in the Agreement for Sale and Purchase. This means how much of the total purchase price you’d like to pay to the Seller of the property as a sign of good faith before settlement day.
Normally, you will pay this deposit once all of the conditions you have agreed on when you made your offer have been satisfied. This is when the property goes unconditional.
You can choose any amount as your deposit, 10% of the purchase price is the usual amount, but the amount you choose may be dependent on what you will have available before settlement day.