Get legal help or negotiate?

[Patricia Nguyen]

I went into contract with a new home builder.  $1K earnest deposit, $10K options deposit.  I only paid $3K of the $10K options deposit because they never invoiced me or sent me bill reminders.

During closing, I could not get a loan so am using the financing contingency to get out of the deal.  Now, they say they wont' return my earnest money deposit because I breached the contract.  Given the small dollar amounts, would you get a lawyer/small claims court (probably be $1K of fees) or just negotiate?

[Eliott Elias]

If it was in the contract they don't have to remind you for it to be due. This is why I advocate for people to use realtors. 

[Ryan Seib]

It would be nice to talk to a lawyer about the case to better negotiate. If the question is whether you will be out $3000 or out $2000 (ie 3000-1000) then it is an easy choice. But if the lawyer thinks you cannot get the deposit back in court that would be good to know.
Be careful about negotiating until you understand the situation more fully, if that is useful to you.
Best wishes with this.