When The Last Owner Died In The House? (disclosure, agents, housing)

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by FalconheadWest

From what I've heard, it was always very common to have the person viewed at the house... but then that's where the turn "Living Room" came from as the Living Room is where you did all your living and entertaining and the dead bodies were gone. My husband thinks it's a wives' tale, but it seems to make sense. Why else is the room called a "Living Room"?

Answer 2
Actually, the answer below is only partially correct. Up until 1918 we in America, as in Europe, called the front room of the house the Front Parlor (or Parlour in British English). When the Great Influenza hit in 1918, there were so many dead in such a short period of time, most people had no other place to put the bodies, so they piled them up in their front parlors and began calling this room the Death Room. When the Great Flu finally passed (after as many as 50 to 100 million people had died . . . many within a 4 or 5 month period of time), and people began to get back to their normal lives, they were still referring to this room as the Death Room. Ladies Home Journal then suggested that, since the Flu had passed, the front parlor was no longer a room for the dead, but for the living; therefore, it should now be called the Living Room. The name stuck. So, we have Ladies Home Journal to thank for our living rooms!

Answer 1
The "living room" is a evolved term for "parlour".
Back in the 19th century, the "parlour" was the room in the house where the recently deceased were laid out before their funeral. This became the more affirmative term "living room" in the 20th century.
Ther term "living room" is obviously the opposite of "mourning room" and thus, the "living room" was born.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_the_term_'living_room'#ixzz2 3BSVSqSK

[Boompa]

As long as they didn't leave him behind.

[JanND]

Originally Posted by AnywhereElse

Well, I just gotta' ask, does it make a difference if one of the last owners of the house died there? I had never thought about it but a few years ago, a realtor told us a house was on the market and had been awhile because the last owner died there and some people had weird feelings about that. Now, I see a cute house on the market for a couple of months so trying to figure out if it were occupied (we need pretty much immediate possession) I did some checking and learned that the woman died at home in 2011. Does that spook me? No, not really and I see the price dropped a nice bite just recently. The woman lived to be in her mid-80s. So, does it spook people, thereby dropping the sale price if everyone in town knows that someone died there? Seriously, we have lived in about 3 older houses and I am sure more than one individual took their final breath there.

Now, we have a house, very nice property where the husband committed suicide on the property and I don't see that selling any time soon and it has been probably 3 years now.

So, does the possibility that the dearly departed haven't really departed scare off potential buyers?

Gotta be realistic. I own a 100 + house...Gotta figure someone must have died, after all they didn't have hospitals like they do now. IT depends on the house, how it feels...vibes. Depends on the individuals...Are they superstitious....a small town might be harder to get by w/ any of these issues.

[NinaN]

There are some cultures that absolutely will not buy a house if someone died in it. Your realtor should know if you are in an area where that will have an impact. If you don't have an issue with it, and your realtor doesn't think it will impact future home value for resale, why not buy it?

[DevionisDream]

Originally Posted by NinaN

There are some cultures that absolutely will not buy a house if someone died in it. Your realtor should know if you are in an area where that will have an impact. If you don't have an issue with it, and your realtor doesn't think it will impact future home value for resale, why not buy it?

It's not my culture but my love of scary movies that will keep me from buying a house someone died in.

[~Pajama mama~]

Originally Posted by DevionisDream

It's not my culture but my love of scary movies that will keep me from buying a house someone died in.

I'm with you Dev!! We looked at one where a guy had fallen down the stairs to the basement and broke his neck. Couldn't get past the creepy factor.

[PureHapa]

It doesn't bother me. I think because laws are passed regarding what you must disclose, that people now have to be notified about someone dying at the home within a certain period of time. The disclosure requirement makes it a big deal when it shouldn't be.

Last time I bought a house the list of disclosures I had to sign off on was so ridiculous. Soon, we'll have to disclose that there are other human beings living on the same street that may become nuisances, and that x number of dogs pass by the house every day bringing risk of poops in your lawn, and that trash trucks have a propensity of having loud squeaky brakes that may deter you from sleeping past 8AM, and that your microclimate averages x amount of thunder and lightning and the risk of lighning hitting the house is one out of a gazillion, etc, etc, ad nauseum. The disclosures will be a thousand pages long and your wrists are gonna be sore from initialing each item!

[Lauriedeee]

Originally Posted by ~Pajama mama~

I'm with you Dev!! We looked at one where a guy had fallen down the stairs to the basement and broke his neck. Couldn't get past the creepy factor.

I don't think I could go up and down those stairs without thinking of that poor guy. I probably wouldn't buy it either.

[DMenscha]

In CA, a death within the last 3 years must be disclosed. We are a disclosure happy state, I'm hoping KS is different, but your agent can advise you.

My wife is a Hospice nurse and death in the household is a part of the norm. Some people are creeped out by it, but those without that phobia don't seem to care.

[399083453]

Here in New England where houses are 200+ years old, I'm sure many, many people have died in the houses.

Think about Florida and its elderly population. Is it even possible to buy a house in FL where someone hasn't died? LOL.

Doesn't bother me at all. Its natural.