So here is the back story.  Me and wife wanted to purchase another home and rent the current home we are in.  We have renters that are ready to move in.  We talked to a mortgage broker that was recommended with our house that we bought 3 years ago.  We have a lot of equity in the house and were going to take out a home equity loan for the down payment on the new house.  We talked to the mortgage broker and sent him all the information they would need, ie 4 months of pay stubs, last 2 years of taxes and 4 month of bank statements.  He said no problem and sent a pre approval letter to our agent and to the agent for the house we wanted to purchase.  We came settled on the price and terms.  We asked for 60 days to close just because we thought the refinance and new loan may take a little more time. We were fully expecting to close ASAP.
The people that owned the home had just done a refinance and were scheduled to start making payments.  They arranged with the bank that they were selling the house and it was suppose to close on the 20th, if they did not sell or close by the 20th of July then the bank was going to foreclose.  The closing date was July 20th.

We had to put down $6000 earnest.  Then had to pay $550 for an appraisal on our house and the new house plus a $400 inspection.

We complied with everything the broker was asking for.  There were times he was hard to get ahold of and did not return phone calls.  But always reassure me and my wife, our real estate agent and the other parties agent that everything was going smooth and we should be able to close at anytime.  I told him I would like to close on the 10th of July.

We come to find out the the mortgage broker did not really do anything.  He was not even close to having all the work done to close when we called him on the 10th.  His manager said he would take over.  We tried to call him and his secretary 2-3x/day and left messages, our agent and the other parties agent have been calling with no return call.  He finally calls me the day before we were suppose to close and let it slip out that he hasn't even had time to look at our file.

Needles to say we lost the house.  The people selling it lost everything. We did get the $6000 back but we are out $1500 for inspections and appraisals and the time I had to take away from my job to try and save the deal.

Can I take the mortgage broker to small claims court and try and recoup my money?  I think I would end up spending more on a lawyer than what I would get.  Any legal advice would be appreciated.

What 'contractual relationship' did you have?

While oral contracts can be valid they are often worth the paper they are NOT printed on.

Unless the broker was out and out fraudulent and misrepresented clearly himself it will be hard to show anything.

Any email comms would be very helpful in your fight.  If all business was conducted over the phone, its gonna be tough.  Usually the title company, brokers, etc are fairly well protected.  The fight will likely take more out of you than you will get back.  To be honest, a negative social media campaign against the broker will probably hurt them more.

Are they licensed? Does your state have a consumer protection bureau (usually part of the AG's office)?

Might be better, easier and less drain to file written complaints with the above plus BBB.

I was going to report them to the BBB.  There was email, texts and phone conversations plus the guarantee to the realtors on both sides.  I figured going through small claims court would be easier or better so that I did not have to spend money on a lawyer.

Collecting a judgment is a lot harder than winning the case in court!

Regardless if you decide to sue or not, filing complaints can only bolster your case and cause them enough pain that they may just want to make you whole.