My last purchase I used a hard money lender, did my rehab, got it rented, all set to go except....I can't refi...I am not sure what my move is now, my hard money loan is about to get extended but the payments are killing me since I cant get out of it.

By that time the moratorium will probably be rescinded everywhere as its over 85% right now and will be over 99% gone by the end of January asuming the places its still around dont extend them again, which I understand is an if. 

Her contract is due in May of this year and I’m not definitely going to have her renew it.Last I heard, they extended it to 2025, but you don't have to accept it. 

When he notified the seller's agent the next day (one day past the option period), he replied that they would not extend the contract and also keep the earnest money.We need some advice on what our options are here to recover the earnest money?

Leverage is your friend as long as you don't over extend yourself.  

If there is any way to extend that to 2 or 3 years, I would do so. 

I try and extend as much as possible to spread out work and you would probably rather have a return prepared in the summer when someone can actually think than to throw something out on March 15th.

The balloon is soon coming to an end and the owner is not interested in extending the balloon.

The only advantage of extending the lease is the tenant has paid on time every month.

However, to be compensated, every person must have some role in the partnership that extends beyond simply raising money, like some operational responsibility, putting earnest money at risk in the deal, signing on the debt, etc.