Credit Courtesy Verdell and Julie Franklin
Verdell and Julie Franklin had visited their friends on Zukey Lake in Hamburg Township many times over the last ten years, and when a house on the same lake came on the market in September, they were eager to see the property.
It was after their experience viewing the house that they decided to file a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan. Julie is white and Verdell is Black. The lawsuit alleges housing discrimination, and that the real estate agents involved purposefully misled and prevented the Franklins from making an offer on the house because of race, in violation of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The lawsuit was filed on Friday. class wysiwyg-break drupal-content src /sites/all/modules/contrib/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif title break
It checked all the boxes for what the couple wanted, and was listed at $350,000. They were willing to go higher, but wanted to start off at $300,000. But they claim a real estate agent never even took their written offer.