Legal Question in Real Estate Law in North Carolina

Read the offer to purchase agreement. If it was the standard contract, then the deposit is not refundable simply because you changed your mind. There had to be an offer to purchase agreement of some kind. The offer to purchase agreement should have spelled out what would happen to the earnest money.

Moreover, what did you think earnest money was for? It is paying the seller of the land to take the house off the market. If he does and you back out, the seller has costs to re-advertise the property and put it back on the market in theory. The deposit is a way of compensating the seller for his losses if you do what you did here and back out.

And if you did this without a lawyer or realtor, then shame on you. That is why you pay professionals for this service!