It's taken a few weeks for me to recover from his death but it's now time to think about whether or not there is enough equity in the home for me to take on a probate.  

Hi Pretty,There is absolutely no way to know ahead of time if you will recover the cost 100% or even 1%.The choice might come down to how much you and your wife want to have this very desirable bathroom vs the one that is in there now.Getting your money back on it in a new-ish suburban home is just unknown upfront--I'd say this purchase is more of "Personal Desire" purchase than a hard nosed business purchase.Although it could turn out at sales time to being some added sale price...

The location may take years to recover, or it may never recover.

This means you will be $5k out of pocket, and $5k negative and have to recover the full $5k before you are positive again.If you bury that $5k in the original financing, it will cost you about $25/month (Added to your monthly mortgage payment), or $300/year. 

New housing all but stopped, while the future demand for housing continued to develop unabated: folks didn't stop growing up, completing their education, getting married and starting their families simply because of what had happened with the economy.Economists of the day predicted a shortfall of housing supply amounting to 5+ years of housing starts / building new homes and apartments by the time "starts" began to recover, and a 10 year shortfall by the time the "ramp back up" restored some of the momentum in housing prior to the crash - basically, where we are now.Needless to say, no one anticipated COVID and the related impacts on the population and the economy.In my view. we're seeing a multi-faceted issue because of all that's happened since the crash, not to mention the impact of the crash itself.My $0.02 ...

You will likely spend just as much on a real estate attorney to try to recover your EMD.

Hi Tim, yes the money is in an escrow account  and we can recover it but we would prefer to move forward as we have spent a lot of time alread on this property.

Find markets where you have high enough CF to recover all your cost (DP) in cash within a 3 - 3 year period. 

Recovering from the (possible) hits you will get is not worth it.

If a landlord, an agent, or other person acting under the landlord's direction or control, in possession of a tenant's personal property, fails to allow the tenant to retake possession of the property within 24 hours after written demand by the tenant or the tenant's duly authorized representative or within 48 hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays, after written demand by the tenant or a duly authorized representative when the landlord, the landlord's agent or person acting under the landlord's direction or control has removed and stored the personal property in accordance with subdivision 1 in a location other than the premises, the tenant shall recover from the landlord punitive damages in an amount not to exceed twice the actual damages or $1,000, whichever is greater, in addition to actual damages and reasonable attorney's fees.In determining the amount of punitive damages the court shall consider (1) the nature and value of the property; (2) the effect the deprivation of the property has had on the tenant; (3) if the landlord, an agent, or other person acting under the landlord's direction or control unlawfully took possession of the tenant's property; and (4) if the landlord, an agent, or other person under the landlord's direction or control acted in bad faith in failing to allow the tenant to retake possession of the property.The provisions of this subdivision do not apply to personal property which has been sold or otherwise disposed of by the landlord in accordance with subdivision 1, or to landlords who are housing authorities, created, or authorized to be created by sections 469.001 to 469.047, and their agents and employees, in possession of a tenant's personal property, except that housing authorities must allow the tenant to retake possession of the property in accordance with this subdivision.Subd. 3.Storage.