I'm in the Finger Lakes region of New York (5 hours from NYC), reliant on tourism area and some manufacturing. I'm scheduled to sign paperwork on Monday to purchase the duplex. It'll be tight but I don't know if I'll ...

Because of the latitude of her experience in real estate, though admittedly in a gypsy style, she and another person with a similar story, are able to cost effectively walk through properties and give me make-ready plans and assessments. 

He's helped dozens of my team's clients fund a low downpayment "house hack" multi unit purchase in Chicagoland and could walk you through your best options.

But, you can't just walk away now and give up the earnest money.

Walk away. 

It can be a little weird to navigate at first, so let me know if it would be helpful to hop on a screen share and I can walk you through the basics. https://geomap.ffiec.gov/FFIECGeocMap/GeocodeMap1.aspxThese are all pretty sophisticated tools, but in the end, if you have boots on the ground in the city you're looking at, you'll be well served just driving the neighborhoods at different times of the day.

Im from Atlanta, They film the walking dead here and the CDC is here.

So I'm unsure if I should just buy a like property and save the headache then sell the burned property and walk away.

But then again, I don't want a surprise.Another concern is, in the event the loan does indeed comes still wrong during the closing, am I responsible for any fee if I decline or walk out from the closing?

Drive and walk around.