back out clause in the escrow agreement

[Helen Falk]

Hello all,

I am making my first home purchase (a bit of a fixer upper) and would like to include a clause in the escrow agreement that allows me to back out (while recovering my earnest money) if the inspection finds any major (as in, cuts the projected home value in half and makes the deal non-viable to me) problems. 

Is this normal or is there a standard way of writing such a clause into an agreement? I am aware that the home needs work and am willing to foot the bill of most of it , but I do not want to lose my earnest money if the inspection finds out that the entire foundation is unsteady. Can anyone offer advice or give me an example of how to formally define such a situation?

Thank you very much!