May lose earnest $ and house purchase

[ERN368]

I recently began the task of purchasing a foreclosed on house using my V.A. loan and a local realtor. I am approved for the money but have to repair a few odd items in the house before the V.A. will release the funds. I was to close on the 9th of June, which is a few days away, but I cannot get into the house to do the repairs in order to get the loan. The Seller will not grant me premission to access the dwelling to do the repairs even though they had sent me a release of Liability form that I had filled out and sent back, through my Realtor. Now they are talking about charging me $100 a day per diem for every day that the loan is not closed on. I have lost my $1000.00 earnest money according to the Realtor due to not closing on time. I think there HAS GOT to be some legal recourse. The V.A. paperwork says they allow 120 to 180 days to close, which I see as fair due to the slowness of the system. The Realtor was all gung-ho and put down that we should close in a 10 day period. Now that is not happening due to the fact I cannot get on the property to repair the small items the V.A. needs fixed. Anybody have any suggestions? I really need HELP!