Start with the contract itself, because new-construction agreements are written heavily in the builder's favor and spell out exactly what happens if you walk. Whether any of your deposit comes back depends on where you are in the process and what you signed, so read the remedies section closely. This is genuinely a question for a real estate attorney in your state. The common pattern: many contracts split the deposit into a contingency-protected portion and a portion that goes non-refundable once the seller accepts. In a lot of states, once you have released your contingencies, that deposit is what you risk by walking away voluntarily, and often that is the extent of it. In California, for example, after contingencies are released the good-faith deposit is typically all the seller can keep, with little further recourse beyond it. Your contract may read differently, so verify rather than assume. Then do two practical things. Go back to the agent who represented you and explain the situation, and talk directly to the builder. A builder sitting on unsold inventory has real incentive to keep your deal alive and may offer a concession or a partial release rather than lose you. A builder whose homes are still selling quickly has little reason to bend and can usually enforce the contract as written. Your leverage tracks their inventory. Until the contract tells you which portion is refundable, treat the money as neither automatically gone nor automatically yours.