If I think about canceling the contract, I am very sure I'll not get the 10% earnest deposit I already paid.

It has to be secured before we can close, the reason we have requested a 50% deposit and other balance paid once closed.

(Q3)Security deposit is another area that I need clarifying on.

What happens to original security deposit from original 12mo lease?

You could ask for additional upfront deposits (double deposit, last months rent) if you're confident, but I wouldn't unless they were $100 or $200 off the 3 times rule.

Tell them you want your deposit back in full plus compensation for them breaking the lease and any extra costs you incurred (eg did you have a cancellation fee for movers-I doubt it as you said you didn't know when you planned to move in).

So, you definitely want to require a security deposit from them.Lastly, the $1250 in rent wired above is probably misleading.

However, I’d think most contracts have a deadline for performance where you can then terminate and get your earnest money deposit back and move on.

Take a higher deposit if you want to rent to them would be my recommendation

Lastly, it could be that the bank is going to portfolio your loan at below-market pricing because they want the entire banking relationship (deposits, transaction processing, consumer lending, etc) or simply want the risk (yield).Lots of local and regional banks have been retaining loans at really aggressive pricing recently as the current environment makes this favorable for them.