Real Estate Nightmare: A Family's 'Dream Home' Turned to 'Snake House'

When Jody and Jeffrey Brooks bought an Annapolis house in Maryland for $410,000 last year, they thought they were building a home for their family.

Now, the young couple is forced to move out; they are suing their realtor for $2 million; and their house is already a breeding ground for rat snakes.

Washington Post reported that in early April, the Maryland couple's 4-year-old child saw a three-foot black rat snake coming out of the house. Upon disposal, they thought that their serpent problem was gone.

Days later, however, Jeffrey Brooks found another snake, a thick seven-foot black rat snake. Later on, the family found too many snakes inside the house.

"Once we found three and the size of them, of course your emotions are going crazy. We've kind of settled our fears by talking to the experts but my first quest was, help me emotionally, just tell me that this snake would never have mistaken our four-month-old baby for a vermin and curled up in the crib with her," Jody Brooks told WUSA9.

The Brooks, including Jeffrey and Jody, and their two children, moved into the house last January 2015. Reports say that as the months grew warmer, more and more snakes started to appear.

Currently, the couple has filed a lawsuit against four parties, namely: Barbara Van Horn, Champion Realty, Inc., The Joan Broseker Revocable Trust, and Joan Broseker, for allegedly not informing them of the snake issue. Jody also accused Van Horn for not providing her pest inspection documents.

"She (Van Horn) said she had the world come out and look at it and there was no problem," Jody exclaimed. "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?"

According to the lawsuit, the pest company advised the Brooks to have the home thoroughly checked for the issue. There they found feces on the walls and more snake skins, showing that the Brooks house is officially a "snake den."

Because black rat snakes leave behind traces of small in their nest to help them return or attract more of their kind, Jody said that her family can no longer stay in the Maryland house.

"Unfortunately, that's us, we're the snake family. . . . We've learned more about snakes than we've ever wanted to know," she said. "We just want them to let us start over and take the house back."

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