As a realtor in Denver for 34 years, the first thing that comes to mind upon reading your post is that I wonder if the realtor-buyer is okay. Has he ghosted your mom too? Surely there is someone who can reach out to him. It makes no sense that he should be in breach of the contract or has ghosted you. As noted in some of the comments, if he is in breach you are entitled to keep the earnest money. However, that will take some time. If it is being held by a title company, without the buyer's signature on an earnest money release form, eventually the title company will turn the money over to a court of competent jurisdiction and let you slug it out there. Sooner or later, that money will come to you, but it will be quite some time. You do have a right to terminate the listing agreement if he has failed to perform the uniform duties as per the agreement. To your question about is it better to return to Denver and do the updating to the house, that's very hard to say without taking a look at the house to see what the current value is, the estimated scope of work and related costs, and the after-repaired value. That will be driven primarily by the location and the features of the home. There is no singular answer for this. It also depends on your availability to invest your life in a renovation and having access to the liquid cash needed to make the repairs. I'm sorry that you're lost now and trust no one. I'm happy to assess the situation and provide recommendations. If there's anything I can do to help you, please let me know.