Thank you for your in-depth and insightful response to my post. I'm a
first time home buyer (obviously), and unfortunately I'm learning some
hard lessons and not just with this particular issue. As for my
realtor, I genuinely believe he's a man of integrity and it wasn't his
intent to mislead me or hold back information. I think because this
was a fairly new home (2002), he believed that there would be few
problems, which turned out to be the case. If I were the realtor
knowing what I know now I would had the seller amend the clause from
"Earnest deposit to become non-refundable after inspection
period..." to "Earnest deposit to become non-refundable after
inspection period or upon delivery of request for repairs whichever is
sooner." Now of course as a buyer, if I saw it worded this way you'd
better believe I would have said, "No way!"