How to force LINQ Sum() to return 0 while source collection is empty

Try changing your query to this:

db.Leads.Where(l => l.Date.Day == date.Day
            && l.Date.Month == date.Month
            && l.Date.Year == date.Year
            && l.Property.Type == ProtectedPropertyType.Password
            && l.Property.PropertyId == PropertyId)
         .Select(l => l.Amount)
         .DefaultIfEmpty(0)
         .Sum();

This way, your query will only select the Amount field. If the collection is empty, it will return one element with the value of 0 and then the sum will be applied.

I prefer to use another hack:

double earnings = db.Leads.Where(l => l.Date.Day == date.Day
                                      && l.Date.Month == date.Month
                                      && l.Date.Year == date.Year
                                      && l.Property.Type == ProtectedPropertyType.Password
                                      && l.Property.PropertyId == PropertyId)
                          .Sum(l => (double?) l.Amount) ?? 0;