150 Types of Unusual Investments – The List

86. New Homes with Low Earnest Money – depending on the builder and market conditions, new homes might take 9 or more months to build.

If the builder allows the buyer to tie the home up with a purchase contract with a low earnest money deposit AND limits the recourse against the buyer to just the earnest money, then they have created something like an option for the buyer.

If the overall market appreciates during that 9 month period, the price is still locked in and the buyer gets the appreciation.

If the market crashes, the buyer can walk away while just losing the earnest money.  So the downside is limited.