Yes! This is exactly the point people miss when they complain about deposits. A deposit is not a red flag by itself. It is a filter. The flakes and scammers will not put money down because they know they might bail, so the deposit scares them off before they waste your time. The guy who pays is telling you his time is worth something too, which means he actually plans to show. Three people bailed on you with no deposit because there was nothing on the line for them. This one guy handed over cash and locked himself in mentally, and now he is acting like a real client should. You did not get weirdly lucky, you just stopped letting people in for free and the right kind of person stuck around.