CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — It was supposed to be a dream home. Instead, Dyandria Darel’s dream is being shattered both figuratively and literally.
“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “It’s a nightmare.”
She hired Van Der Valk Construction to build a home in Inverness Village 4, a neighborhood in Citrus County, in 2022.
WATCH: From dream to disaster: Tree damages Citrus County homebuyer’s still-unfinished home
However, almost three years later, the home is still unfinished with no end in sight. It still lacks appliances, countertops, flooring, a garage door, landscaping, and a driveway.
“It’s just a disaster,” said Darel. “Thousands of dollars worth has to be completed.”
Van Der Valk Construction filed for bankruptcy back in April, leaving Darel and dozens of other home buyers in limbo with incomplete homes in both the Inverness Village Four subdivision and Citrus Springs.
Darel also sued the homebuilder last year. In the complaint, she claims water and electricity were never connected to the home without a large, unexpected payment. The builder counter-sued.
As both lawsuits and the bankruptcy proceedings drag on, the empty house sits vacant and is being quickly consumed by weeds.
Its surroundings are also damaging it.
Weeks ago, a dead or dying hardwood tree in the home’s backyard lost a branch, which came crashing through the unfinished home’s roof. Multiple trusses were broken by the large branch, which landed in a bedroom.
“It’s more than salt in the wound,” said Darel. “It’s created another wound with more salt on it, because my God.”
Darel believes the repair will cost thousands of dollars, along with the work necessary to remove more problem trees from the backyard.
A court-appointed trustee is digging into the builder’s bankruptcy.
According to a preliminary report authored by a court-appointed trustee, home buyers were seemingly “duped” through “outright fraud, collusion, or clever contract structuring.”
The trustee said he will continue to study if Van Der Valk Construction and its owner, Chris Matser, committed “fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, or gross mismanagement.”
Despite the effort, the future looks bleak for Darel.
“Do you think you’ll ever live in this house?” ABC Action News asked her.
“Realistically, because I am a realist, no,” she answered.
“But there’s always hope — a little bit of hope in the back,” she said, as tears welled in her eyes. “That something — something positive will happen.”
Because of the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, he said he is limited in what he can say, but in a brief phone call with ABC Action News on Monday, he said he does wish to finish the home for Darel.
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