Dream House’s Snakes Infestation May Require Burning The $410K Maryland Home


A dream house’s snakes infestation is so bad that the homeowners claim they may need to burn the $410,000 Maryland home to the ground. Worse, they claim the realtor and the seller fooled them into buying the house and hid evidence that the snake infestation was so bad.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Jeff and Jody Brooks did not know about their dream house’s snakes infestation for certain until they had already moved in, but they claim they heard rumors beforehand which seemed to indicate that not all was right in their new home. When they asked the realtor Barbara Van Horn about these rumors, the Brooks family says they were misled.

“She said she had the world come out and look at it and there was no problem. She’s going to be our neighbor. She is a licensed agent. Who do you trust? A rumor in the area or a licensed agent?” said Jody. “We’ve learned that specifically with some of the prior tenants that lived in the home, who’ve reached out to us just for support, that this has been an ongoing problem and the extent of their problem and how terrifying it was for them. So they knew and didn’t disclose that information.”

The realtor also dismissed the previous tenants of the home as “gypsies” who did not want to pay their rent, and she claimed the photos of snakes on the property had been Photoshopped. It’s claimed when potential buyers came to inspect the house that a pest control company would do a quick “snake away” treatment so no one would notice any snake activity.

“Van Horn refused to keep a lock box on the premises while acting as the listing agent and would personally unlock the home and turn on the lights and, upon information and belief, check for snake activity before anyone entered the premises,” the family’s lawyer claims, according to The Washington Post.

Their 4-year-old son discovered the reality of their dream home’s snakes infestation the hard way by stumbling upon a seven-foot long black snake. Their dream house quickly turned into a nightmare house where they could hear the snakes moving through the walls.

“You don’t want to leave your kids alone anywhere in that house,” Judy added. “It’s spooky…. It was a house we could make into our dream home. We had a fear that [a snake] would go into our daughter’s crib and, like the movies, wrap itself around our baby girl.”

After spending almost $60,000 on a pest control company, the home inspectors admitted that black snakes leave a musk that attracts other snakes to their den. The family’s lawyer, Matthew Evans, claims the only solution at this point is to burn the dream house to the ground.

“As they pulled back the onion, it only got worse and worse,” Evans claimed. “It’s so bad that the family was told the only way to guarantee the snakes leave is to burn down the home and let it sit for 15 years.”

After realizing their dream house’s snakes infestation was never going to be solved, the family sued Von Horn and the seller, Joan Broseker, who happens to the realtor’s mother. The $2 million lawsuit covers the price of the $410,000 home, the pest control costs, and the remainder is in punitive damages.

When the realtor spoke to ABC, she claimed, “I think that everybody’s sensationalizing this.”

But Jody Brooks insists that the $2 million is all about allowing the family to start over.

“We were originally going to fix the problem,” Jody said. “Now we just want our money back and to start over. It’s emotionally exhausting and overwhelming.”

[Image via Google Images]

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