return of deposit

We are in Florida. We made an offer on a house. The offer was countered, we accepted the new sale price. The contract stated we had seven days to have an inspection. We had an inspection five days later. The seller was selling "as is" so there was an addendum stating we would have "at buyers sole discretion" the option to cancel the contract if we found the inspection proved "the property to be unacceptable". The inspection showed about $6000 - 7000 of work needing to be done. We do not have the extra money to make these repairs so we informed the 'transaction' realtor in writting that we were canceling the contract. The seller now is contesting the release of the deposit from escrow. They think the inspection is just an excuse and that we had not made up our minds so they should get to keep the deposit because the house was off the market for one week. I don't believe they can do this. What is the time frame for "immediate" return ( as stated in the contract ) of the deposit? Doesn't "buyers sole discretion" mean that even if the inspection proved the house to be perfect, we could have still declined? What should we do next? The realtor told us "It's a legal matter now - I'm out of it.". Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[HomeGuru]

Your Realtor is full ot it. It is a legal matter but the Realtor could have talked to the other Realtor and explained the problem and had the Seller's Realtor ask the Seller to sign an escrow release.

This should be an easy one for your Realtor to resolve given the terms and conditions of the contract.

There is only one realtor involved. She is considered a Transaction Broker. She doesn't work for either us ( as buyers ) or the seller. The seller will not sign the escrow release. What should we do? I hate to blow the whole thousand dollars on an attorney just to get my money back. What a major pain this has been.

[HomeGuru]

Yup it has been a pain in the butt because of the uncooperative Sellers and that transvestite broker. Next time use a real broker.