📌 Met a buyer who's a master at dodging EMD — until he can't

Got on a call today with an acquisitions company doing real volume across several markets. The founder is genuinely creative — seller performance credits (gave one seller a $280K credit) and buying in trust, all to get sellers to waive EMD and POF entirely. When it works, he never needs a funder.

But when a seller insists on EMD, he needs one — and that's where it stalled. He wants the EMD funded but doesn't want to pay the upfront fee. His words: "no upfront, but I'll pay you gorgeously on the back end."

I held the line — the upfront is what protects us on the deals that don't close.

👉 For the experienced folks: has anyone found a structure that actually works with a bigger buyer who resists the upfront and dangles a fat back-end? Or do you just hold the line and let them walk?

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📌 Met a buyer who's a master at dodging EMD — until he can't