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A molecular biologist says she was prevented from buying her dream condo in Virginia Beach after the white owner learned she was allegedly black.

Dr. Raven Baxter, 30, was ready to buy the home after taking a virtual tour of the property. It had everything she wanted: a private foyer, wainscoting, exquisite crown molding and a marble fireplace.

Baxter offered an asking price of $749,000, which was immediately accepted by the seller. The molecular biologist, who works remotely for Mount Sinai Hospital, then sent a down payment and the apartment went into escrow.

But then she got a late-night call from her estate agent telling her the seller, Jane Walker, 84, now wanted out of the deal.

“He said, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but she doesn’t want to sell your home and it’s because you’re black,'” Baxter recalled.

Earlier that day, the biological scientist and her longtime boyfriend, Dr. Ronald Gamble Jr., a theoretical physicist who works for NASA, made the three-hour drive to the apartment from their apartment in Alexandria, Virginia.

For the first time, the two scientists explored the property in person.

When Baxter had previously toured the apartment virtually, her camera was turned off. Jane Walker, the saleswoman, did not know her race.

After they finished looking at the property, which is close to the beach and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, they ran into the seller.

As the couple prepared to leave, Walker showed up and her agent, Susan Pender of Berkshire Hathaway RW Towne Realty, introduced both parties.

Moments after the scientists left, Baxter said Walker confronted her agent, telling her he didn’t want to sell his apartment to a black man. Walker ordered Pender to terminate the sale.

Pender called Wayne Miller, an agent at 757 Realty, and informed him of the developments.

Miller contacted Baxter’s agent, Bill Loftis, who called her with the disturbing news.

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Baxter was crushed to hear that the seller was giving up. She loved the apartment.

“This is a classic home with lots of character. It is absolutely beautiful and you can walk to the beach. It was like stealing,” she said. “I basically made an invisible offer,” Baxter told the New York Times.

According to the apartment’s Zillow page, the Georgian-style property was built in 1932.

Equipped with a spiral staircase, gilded mirrors, chandeliers and antique oil paintings, the Gone With The Wind-inspired property comes with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Baxter’s friend was shocked to hear the seller was backing out of the deal. When the molecular biologist got the call from her agent, she put it on speaker so Gamble could hear the news.

“I fell back in my chair,” he said.

“I couldn’t believe what I heard. Well after the civil rights movement, after Covid, after George Floyd, one would think that society still doesn’t think this way. But in 2024, they still are.”

Later that evening, Baxter shared his story on his X.com account, where he has 163,000 followers.

She ended her post by writing a defiant note: “Honey, I’m either buying your house or I’m buying your block. CHOOSE ONE.’

Prompted by commenters on her post, Baxter filed a discrimination claim with the Virginia Department of Housing and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She also contacted a civil rights attorney.

“If I didn’t go on Twitter and get help from people who knew what they were doing, I would have been panicking all weekend,” Baxter said

She added: “It was my first time buying a house. I knew my civil rights were being violated. I knew something illegal was going on, but no one knew what to do.

Loftis contacted Baxter the next day, telling her that while it was “unfortunate that the seller” had brought “race into the process,” her children had “managed to turn her around.”

Baxter is now expected to proceed with the purchase of the apartment, which will happen later this summer.

After the molecular biologist’s story gained national attention, Barbara Walcott, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway RW Towne Realty, emailed Baxter: “In light of the actions of our terribly misguided salesperson, I feel compelled to send you this email.”

Walcott continued, “Please be assured that this person’s behavior is not something that is tolerated by Berkshire Hathaway RW Towne Realty, Susan Pender, or anyone in our organization or field.”

Berkshire Hathaway RW Towne Realty has yet to clarify how they refuse to tolerate the condo seller’s behavior.