BECKLEY – A couple is suing Braveheart Real Estate after they claim it and other companies worked together to defraud them into buying a home that was later condemned.
WV Realty Pros LLC; Tyree Appraisal Services LLC; Franklin P. Short III; John Doe Holder; and The Huntington National Bank were all named as defendants in the suit.
Shaun Terry and Tess Terry sought to purchase their first home as newlyweds and relied upon Short, a leader at their church, to be their realtor through WV Realty Pros, according to a complaint filed March 7 in Raleigh Circuit Court.
The Terrys claim that Short steered them toward a home that his side company, Braveheart, was renovating.
Short prevented the plaintiffs from inspecting the crawl space under the home and concealed the significant structural issues and significant water and mold damage, according to the suit.
The Terrys claim Short then steered them to his preferred lender, The Huntington National Bank, who placed the Terrys in a rural housing loan without confirming the home’s habitability.
The bank hired Tyree to perform the appraisal, but Tyree failed to identify the significant structural and water issues and, since entering the loan, Beckley has condemned the property due to those issues, according to the suit.
The Terrys claim Short discouraged them from obtaining a home inspection because he renovated homes all the time and told them an inspection was not work the money because he “did houses right.”
The plaintiffs trusted Short because he was a leader in their church, played basketball and lunched with Shaun Terry and was otherwise viewed as a mentor, according to the suit.
The Terrys claim when they moved in on Feb. 24, 2017, they gained access to the crawl space for the first time and noted significant water that was constantly flowing into the crawl space.
The plaintiffs also obtained a mold report in May 2017 that confirmed water flowed into the crawl space and found high levels of mold contamination in the kitchen, hallway, bathroom, master bedroom and crawl space, according to the suit.
The Terrys claim they contacted several contractors and were informed that the house was insufficiently supported; that the piers had no foundation under them and were essentially sinking into the mud; that the crawl space was inadequately ventilated; that the foundation would have to be exposed and resealed to prevent continued water damage; and that the damaged foundation would need replaced.
Schack’s Construction determined that the house was not repairable or habitable and provided an estimate for a demolition and complete rebuild to cost $135,000, according to the suit. Another construction company wouldn’t even provide an estimate because the damages was too extensive.
Due to the defects of the home, the plaintiffs have become trapped in a home where they cannot stay due to the habitability issues due to the large loan, according to the suit.
The Terrys are seeking compensatory damages. They are being represented by Jed R. Nolan of Mountain State Justice.
Raleigh Circuit Court case number: 18-C-128
