Are you Military and have to live off Base?

Maybe a strongly worded letter may do the trick.

My agent says that there is a clause based on which he can dispute it and then the EMD stays in escrow for 2 years.Is the seller allowed to refuse to sign the release if he has no reason to base a dispute on?

After all that extra time with your parents coming back around the holidays and giving yourself strong footing to have a comfortable life is worth considering. 

Honestly, I would have never guessed that this market is actually not great for rental investments and real strong for fix and flips.

Choose your plan based on your money goals, how much risk you can handle, looking into the market, and how long you plan to invest.

For example in Reno, NV our analytics show cash flow around 35% down for most 200-500k properties and the appreciation is very strong.

DSCR loans are based off of down payment, credit score and either actual or market rents so it helps to supercharge an investor's real estate goals and net worth.

The answer is that a 1031 provides tax savings and/or deferral based on the situation. 

This equity is going to be the base of further investing for financing.2 - As part of the new house build, we had to buy an adjacent lot (great price, mountain views, owned outright).