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In fact, when I first communicated with my agent about the water damage claim, the listing agent wrote back saying she remembered the owner mentioning something about it briefly, but would check with them and get back to us. Well, if the owner/listing agent knew anything about the water damage, then aren't they obligated to disclose it in the seller's disclosure? This would have prevented us from either making an offer on the home in the first place or lowered our offer price to cover for any repairs/redo arising from it.
I do not think they have a case for holding our EMD, but it hurts to know that we spent close to a thousand dollars unnecessarily.
Keep this kind of correspondence.
Contact your local Board/Association of Realtors. Their ethics committee. And contact the state office. And contact the office that oversees corporation licenses. They can investigate too and in some areas that will show up on their site.
Sometimes when you show you have this knowledge, people will do...well, not the right thing of course because they didn't want to do that. But they'll do whatever to cover themselves.
Actually, you can still report the realtor's actions even if you eventually get your money back.
But remember...don't sign anything in order to get the money. It can come back to bite you.
The inspection found no evidence of the water damage either? That is a point in the sellers' favor. It is definitely time to consult a lawyer.
The water damage was "fixed"- as in got repaired by seller. As with everything else, it is a shoddy job and when you examine the ceiling with this new information, you understand why it is not evenly finished and appears patchy, which we thought was just a bad paint job!! The bigger point is that they had made a claim for 7k, but are able to furnish repair costs for 2.2k. Don't understand where the 3.8k went. My insurance company wants to know a ballpark figure of the repair costs before they insure the property. The insurance company has no interest in inflating the claim- so, we now think there is something more to it- just cannot trust the seller anymore. Moreover, it just means spending more $$ on our part for redoing/repainting.
We have saved all correspondences to date. One step at a time- first secure the EMD then we'll be able to think straight on whether we want to recover other costs. Our agent said they will be refunding the EMD soon. Will keep updates coming as they happen.
When you get your EMD then, be careful they don't show you the check and have you first sign something where the mouse print says you will not come after them for anything else.
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The bigger point is that they had made a claim for 7k, but are able to furnish repair costs for 2.2k. Don't understand where the 3.8k went. My insurance company wants to know a ballpark figure of the repair costs before they insure the property. The insurance company has no interest in inflating the claim- so, we now think there is something more to it- just cannot trust the seller anymore. Moreover, it just means spending more $$ on our part for redoing/repainting. 
