What are my rights?

Hi Nj here. I'm a first time home buyer and I recently settled on a home in which the agent was acting in a dual capacity. I feel as though the agent did not do his best in representing me as a buyers. I received a copy of the the title insurance four days before settlement, and that is when I learned that the property had a lien on it, this information was never disclosed to me, by the agent. At the time at which my partner and myself signed the contracts, we were told by the agent that what we were signing was not actually a contract, and we wouldn't be signing anything that was legal and binding until the date of settlement, and that at any point in time between when we signed those documents and the actual date of settlement we would be able to for any reason decide not to take the house and receive our escrow deposit back. To make a very long story short. The day before settlement on the final walk through of the house, I noticed that the carpet tacks and stripping were still on the floor, that a screen door for was still leaning on the back of the house and had not been replaced, and that work that the inspector had noted needed to be done on the driveway did not look completed. I informed the agent about the carpet tacks as well as the screen door, about four days before the settlement, and again the day of the final walk through. He stated to me that the seller did not want to fix the problems that we had brought up, and that the seller felt as though she had already spent more than enough money, repairing things that had been noted by the inspector and that she didn't want to do anything else. So I and my partner refused to settle. My question is what legal recourse do we have. According to a lawyer that we spoke with, the contract became legal and binding at the date that we gave them our deposit monies, and that we really don't have a leg to stand on as far as this transaction. Do we?

[HomeGuru]

You have been dealing with 2 clowns. The real estate agent and the attorney that you talked to.
The real estate agent messed up as a dual agent.
How can the attorney say that a contract is legal and binding just because you gave deposit monies. He/she did not even review the contract. In a purchase contract there should be a number of "subject to's" or contingencies.
For example, if the purchase was subject to inspection and approval of the report, you have an out if the inspection revealed items that you wanted corrected and the Seller refused to do anything.

Start talking to proessional people that are able to help you.

When you have a duel agency relationship there is a paper that one must sign i
f it is a residential property. that is a no agency disclosure notice or a transition to transaction broker. Yes I agree them to clowns definatly misrepresented and violated fl.states 475. What you can do is file a complant with the real estate commission in your county or state. I am in Fl., ours is called FREC, Thats the Fl. real estate commission. I also stress that you check and make sure that this agent has an active license,if so and you lost money and tou cant get it back from them there is a rel estate recovery fund that your state may have and yoou can collest up to 25000 in damages once youve exhausted all other means of collecting damages,IF THIS AGENT IS ACTIVALY LICENSED>