The case against real estate giant Keller Williams has finally been given a judgement, with the jury voting entirely in favor of the couple bringing the real estate company to trial. Shawn and Stephanie Holloway took to the courts to prove that they had been misled, deceived, and victimized through statutory fraud by the company when they purchased a house through a Keller Williams agent and discovered later that termite prevention measures for the building were nonexistent, with the house itself already being half-eaten by the insects.
The case highlights the importance of demanding to see proof of proper termite prevention or control measures for properties before buying them. The Holloways’ lawyer, Adam Green, noted that one major reason for the Holloways’ bringing the case to court was to prevent what happened to them from repeating with other people. Green described the trials of the Holloways as “ridiculous”, stating that no consumer should have to experience what they did.
The couple originally purchased the house in 2009 from a Keller Williams agent, and moved into the building in that same year. They closed on that home in May and started to have upgrade work performed on it, during which time it was discovered that the house was infested with termites. The damage was apparently so extensive that one contractor merely pushed on one wall and managed to push it inwards by several inches due to the weakness of the destroyed wood. Naturally, the Holloways were unable to live in such conditions. They had to move out of the home they had just acquired, which had suddenly become a bitter investment.
The case took over two years to come to trial, and although the judgement was in favour of the Holloways, Green maintains that it should never have taken so long or even happened at all. While Keller Williams maintains that they were unaware of the termite damage to the property, arguing that the agent—who also happened to be the seller, in a violation of real estate company policy—happened to be acting purely for her own selfish interests.
Whatever the case, it should demonstrate the need for prospective buyers of properties to look into getting a free termite inspection prior to closing in on any deals—and to be sure to get a trustworthy termite control company to perform said inspection too, of course. Termite prevention is fairly easy to avail of due to the number of termite control companies nowadays, so there should be no reason for the seller of a house not to have termite prevention measures in place for the property on sale. Cases like that of the Holloways should be kept to a minimum, and one good way of doing that is to be a smart buyer.
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