• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Legally disclosing that a house may be haunted

JLam

Proud Skepkid Parent
JLam
Joined
Dec 28, 2004
Messages
4,149
I'm in the process of buying a house. My wife and I were signing a whole stack of documents today, and one of the lines of fine print caught my eye.

The sellers had to declare, under penalty of perjury, that the house was not haunted, and we had to acknowledge it with our initials. I. S:Dit. You. Not.

Seriously. What the hell?
 
Pity. A haunted house would be worth a mountain of money.

I didn't have that on my house five years ago -- is this a new thing? Have there been successful lawsuits or escrow evasions on the basis of "haunting?"

Oh, and congratulations!
 
JLam said:
I'm in the process of buying a house. My wife and I were signing a whole stack of documents today, and one of the lines of fine print caught my eye.

The sellers had to declare, under penalty of perjury, that the house was not haunted, and we had to acknowledge it with our initials. I. S:Dit. You. Not.

Seriously. What the hell?
Click to expand...
Congratulations on your new, unhaunted house! That's quite astonishing. Has anyone else heard of such a thing?
 
Maybe it's near a famously haunted house, the owners of which didn't want any upstart competition musclin' in on their [reverb]territory of terror?[/reverb]
 
JLam said:
Seriously. What the hell?
Click to expand...

Property values is "what the hell".


http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/21/pf/yourhome/househaunting/
Real estate's scary side
Three beds, two baths, one ghost. A haunting tale.
October 31, 2003: 2:34 PM EST
By Les Christie, CNN/Money Contributing Writer

New York (CNN/Money) - Any number of physical factors can complicate the sale of a home: shoddy upkeep, irreparable structural decay, proximity to a toxic waste site.

But one kind of property that causes real nightmares is a house that carries a supernatural stigma. "Psychologically impacted" houses -- in which a murder, suicide, or illness took place -- are a tough sale.

The reason: fear of ghosts.

Two business professors at Wright State University, James Larsen and Joseph Coleman, studied more than 100 psychologically impacted houses. They found that they take 50 percent longer than comparable homes to sell, and price at an average of 2.4 percent less.

Many buyers simply won't buy a house that might contain a ghost.
Click to expand...

Now read this. The gist of it:
...The Supreme Court of New York, in a 3-2 vote for the buyers, gave them a release of their deposit and damages. The courts found that if the buyers had been given all of the facts, they could have made their own determination before submitting an offer. This was denied to them due to non-disclosure by the seller...

< snip >

What is evident from this case and is of concern to any real estate salesperson is that the entire case rests on a simple statement: “Stigma does not have to be real to be realized.”
Click to expand...
"Non-disclosure" that the house they bought had a firmly entrenched reputation as the town's haunted house.

See?
 
Stop looking for woo in law when there is none. The seller promoted the house as haunted over a period of years. Ghost hunters around the country would seek out the property some in package tours, making it harder to sell. The fact that ghosts do not actually exist is not important. It is the seller's own fault she could not sell the house.

This is all from the link in post 5.
 
There was a case here where a son had murdered his family for the inheritance. (He went down to the Porsche dealer the next day to line one up). After the house was sold, the buyers found out about the story and wanted their money back. IIRC, they got it, the Agent should have told them there had been a triple murder there, apparently.
 
Personally, I wouldn't want to live in a house in which a family, or anyone, had been slaughtered. So if such details apply, I would want to know.

Nothing to do with ghosts, etc. Just too depressing.

M.


(Edited for slight finger malfunction.)
 
JLam said:
I'm in the process of buying a house. My wife and I were signing a whole stack of documents today, and one of the lines of fine print caught my eye.

The sellers had to declare, under penalty of perjury, that the house was not haunted, and we had to acknowledge it with our initials. I. S:Dit. You. Not.

Seriously. What the hell?
Click to expand...

So if it is now haunted could you have a case for a suit against them...? :)
 
The first property I bought was a condo in Vancouver, 1997 - a foreclosure deal. I walked through and noted a huge blade-shaped gouge in the wall, and an ominous dark pool-shaped stain on the carpet. I made some inquiries (nothing was disclosed voluntarily) and learned that the owner and his wife had a domestic dispute and the husband killed the wife with a large knife. Ended up in jail, lost the condo. Had been vacant for two years. Bank wanted $69k, I offered $52k and got it for $54k. Lived there about one year, bought second place and rented the murder scene ever since for $600 - $700 a month. One month vacancy in the past 7 years. Current appraisal - $165k.

Made an interesting conversation starter at parties (did you know someone was murdered here?) and no, I don't disclose to my tenants that there was a murder in the property.

No ghost evidence either. But raccoons are a problem.

-AH.
 
In your excitement over the haunted house clause, I bet you completely missed the clause where the seller has to swear that the house is not a portal to another dimension.

But this is all trivial compared to the clause I am now working to require on house sales. I believe all owners should be required to install Farraday cages around their houses so that no one can remote view the occupants.

~~ Paul
 
Antique said:
The first property I bought was a condo in Vancouver, 1997 - a foreclosure deal. I walked through and noted a huge blade-shaped gouge in the wall, and an ominous dark pool-shaped stain on the carpet. I made some inquiries (nothing was disclosed voluntarily) and learned that the owner and his wife had a domestic dispute and the husband killed the wife with a large knife. Ended up in jail, lost the condo. Had been vacant for two years. Bank wanted $69k, I offered $52k and got it for $54k. Lived there about one year, bought second place and rented the murder scene ever since for $600 - $700 a month. One month vacancy in the past 7 years. Current appraisal - $165k.
Click to expand...
Holy Toledo! You could make a killing as a real estate Special Cases Consultant.

~~ Paul
 
All very funny. But would you live in a place where horrible crimes had happened -- crimes that you knew about?

M.
 
Yep - why ever not? (ETA - I would however probably paint over the blood splatters and get a nice rug to cover the blood stains in the carpet.)

I have heard it said that in the UK if your house is a 100 years old then it is almost certain you are sleeping in a room that someone has died in.
 
Excellent.

The woos can buy this paranormal garbage all they want if it means that I can get an awesom "haunted" house at a significantly reduced price. It'll be the life! Sitting in my haunted jacuzzi on my haunted deck sipping haunted mai-tais all the while paying an ultra low monthly house payment.

Score one for the skeptics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom