Late-stage credit pushes happen in luxury transactions, and whether this one is a squeeze or a genuine exit depends on a few things worth separating out.
First, the terminology. An "assignment fee" means you put the estate under contract with the seller, then assigned that contract to your buyer for a $68,000 spread. Your buyer now controls that contract and has an attorney managing the close on their side.
What the attorney is doing is called a post-inspection credit request, asking the seller to reduce the price by $22,000 rather than making the buyer pay full price and fix the problem themselves. At the luxury tier this happens, and it can be legitimate. HVAC replacement on an estate-scale property runs real money, sometimes $40,000 to $80,000 for full systems, so a $22,000 credit is not obviously manufactured.
The timing is the uncomfortable part. Three days from closing, after a clean inspection period, is aggressive. There are two plausible readings: the buyer's attorney is doing their job by pushing for value wherever they can find it, or the buyer has a reason to want out and is creating a paper trail that makes walking look reasonable.
A few things I would want to know. Did the HVAC report exist before the inspection period closed, or did it surface after? If it was produced inside the inspection window and the buyer waived out anyway, the credit request has weaker legal standing. That is a question for a real estate attorney licensed in Arizona, who can read your specific contract language and advise you properly.
One thing you may not have asked: your seller does not know about your fee, but they will need to make a decision on this credit. How you position that conversation, without disclosing more than your contract requires, is worth thinking through before you pick up the phone.
What does your contract say about post-inspection credit requests, and do you have a copy of that HVAC report?
