Purchase contract vs appraisal shortfall language

[Himanshu Goenka]

Hello, I’m a buyer currently under contract for a condo in Phoenix. Due to the current market conditions, the purchase price of the condo shot up by $35k and I had a appraisal shortfall of $15k. However, I never believed for the property to appraise that high and was always of the opinion that the appraisal gap would be much larger than $15k. 
hence, in my final counter, I had the language “Buyer and seller agree that purchase price will be $390,000or $15,000 over appraised
value, whichever is lower”, which the seller accepted. 
The appraisal has come in nearly ~$45k short, leaving the seller with a possible sale price of $30,000 lower. 
The seller is now refusing to honour the contract. 
what are my options? I have already invested 1k in inspection + appraisal and any new unit I purchase will come with very hefty jump in interest. Please help!

[Marcus Auerbach]

Quote from @David Avery:

Your Real Estate agent should take most of that responsibility, if not all of it.

Ask them or the broker.

They average 10 times that amount with almost little effort involved (3-6 hours of work).

 I agree with you David, agent and broker should take the lead here. The problem is of course that most agents are weak, hopefully the broker is not. 

I'd like to add some perspoective to your comment: A lot of people think working as an agent is easy, that's why we have so many people try it - however almost 90% drop out in the first year, and those who stay almost 80% drop out in the second year. Very few succeed and become what's known as top producers. And a top producer can make half a million or more because you don't get paid by the hour, but for the results. Very much like a real estate investor - once you have created a portfolio you make a huge amount of money per hour you work and tenants will say that's unfair. But every succesful investor will tell you they have earned every penny of it.

Maybe give it a shot and get licensed?