Seller is fighting for earnest money

[Mary Jay]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if you would be please so kind and help me out?

Ive been trying to buy a building and there was water in the basement (my handyman said tenants and maintenance crew that was there when the handyman went in say its from sewer problems...), also windows wont open, also part of the roof is bad...When I told about it to my mortgage broker she said the bank probably wont finance it...I asked the seller if the seller will be willing to do sellers financing...Seller is saying that the water leak was from broken pipe line which got fixed. Also the seller is saying that because the appraiser did not flag it (there was no appraisal done yet) I should proceed and order the appraisal and inspection...(that is 1K , so in order for me to get my 1K earnest money back the seller wants me to spend 1K on appraisal and inspection)

Do I have a right to just demand my earnest money back? The seller signed an extension for the inspection so I am still within the time frame... Or am I set to lose 1K of earnest money?

[Russell Brazil]

Depends on what your inspection contingency says.

Also as an fyi, alerting a lender to any defects in a property will typically lead to a denial of financing...but that will be viewed as you sabotaging your own financing, which could open you up to liability.