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Old 10-30-2013, 11:36 AM
 
Location: Southern California
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I read from somewhere that only 3 states have the law that states that it has to be revealed that a death has occurred in a home before a prospective owner buys it. But what about revealing hauntings? There's no actual law about it that I know of. Does anyone know?

I'd sure as heck would like to know if I home I was considering to buy was haunted.
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Old 10-30-2013, 01:22 PM
 
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What is considered a haunting is subjective, of course.

When I was shopping for a house, I made damn sure no one has ever died in the houses I was interested in. I live in CA, and the seller has to disclose any death that has occured in the house.

The house I bought and live in now was built post-war over an orange grove. Two previous owners--no death in the house. The way I like it.
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Old 10-30-2013, 02:07 PM
 
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If they KNOW of it. You can't disclose what you don't know. I live in California, too.

My house was built in 1924, and I don't know who lived there then or after -- I know only the previous owner, and I know he and his mother didn't die here, and he didn't disclose anything to me.
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Old 10-30-2013, 02:16 PM
 
Location: Birmingham
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So does those states acknowledge that ghosts are real? What is their reasoning behind forcing a seller to reveal if a death has occurred there?
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Old 10-30-2013, 02:36 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tourian View Post
So does those states acknowledge that ghosts are real? What is their reasoning behind forcing a seller to reveal if a death has occurred there?
Probably for religious reasons. There may be religions out there that are very sensitive about it.

It could also be something that could aversely affect property value, but it's information that most probably cannot obtain through research and due diligence... so the seller is forced to disclose it.
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Old 10-30-2013, 03:02 PM
 
2,687 posts, read 2,174,408 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forever Blue View Post
I read from somewhere that only 3 states have the law that states that it has to be revealed that a death has occurred in a home before a prospective owner buys it. But what about revealing hauntings? There's no actual law about it that I know of. Does anyone know?

I'd sure as heck would like to know if I home I was considering to buy was haunted.
It depends upon the location, but some states have "stigmatized property" laws that force sellers to inform potential buyers about deaths and crimes that occurred on the property (I believe most of the laws have a cut off date of about 10 years--so, if it happened more than 10 years ago, the seller doesn't have to inform the potential buyer) and whether the house is reportedly haunted. In some cases, the haunting part of the law was essentially tacked on by the courts. I believe California is one example when the courts ruled that a reported haunting should have been reported to potential buyers even though the state's stigmatized property law doesn't specifically mention paranormal activity.
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Old 10-30-2013, 03:04 PM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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How does one prove whether a house is haunted or not? You cannot disclose something that subjective. Only the symptoms, such as strange noises in the night. Haunted or not, that affects the property value. You cannot always know whether someone has died in a house, especially one that's 50-100+ years old. Since we are the second owner and met the people we bought it from we know in this case, but the one before was an estate sale. We didn't ask where the woman died, and no sign of any unusual "activity" there.
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Old 10-30-2013, 03:45 PM
 
Location: Under the Redwoods
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There are haunting that are noisy and then there are haunting that take on a physical form. A reoccurring 'lights on' at exactly the same time on the same day with the whole electrical system checked is not so subjective.
While most disclosures will not say ghost or haunting, most states do require disclosure of these unusual things.
Here is a list of states and their specific wording in regards to disclosure
The Law & Disclosure | Haunted Real Estate Blog
I don't think that a real estate agent is going to say- even as a believer of ghosts, that a house is odd or haunted just because the current owner says so.
I think there has to be significant activity and notable events/features of the house before such a claim is made and taken seriously.
'My house makes noise every night', is not going to be disclosed.
But 'the southwest bedroom never gets over 65 degrees no matter what (use of heaters)' will need to be disclosed. What the cause of that is what is subjective.
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Old 10-30-2013, 04:57 PM
 
Location: Berwick, Penna.
16,214 posts, read 11,243,600 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Forever Blue View Post
I read from somewhere that only 3 states have the law that states that it has to be revealed that a death has occurred in a home before a prospective owner buys it. But what about revealing hauntings? There's no actual law about it that I know of. Does anyone know?

I'd sure as heck would like to know if I home I was considering to buy was haunted.
You're not being serious, I hope. Such a law would just add one more layer of bureaucracy and red tape to the costs of owning and transferring property. What's more, issues like this usually arise mostly among the most impressionable; the people who can't tell responsbile journalism from the trash at supermarket checkouts aimed at adolescents. Any prominent stories regarding a particular property would likely move by word of mouth among the back-fence gossips anyway, and just about every neighborhood has at least one busybody with too much tie on theirhands who would love pass on every useless tidbit.
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Old 10-31-2013, 09:27 AM
 
Location: Coastal South Carolina
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Well, I bought a new home, so I knew nothing happened in it! But, I checked the grounds too! I would never live over an old buried cemetary!! So, it was just woods, and I verified this. I would seriously check if there was any death that was result of a crime or an unnatural death and would stay away from that! I think you can do your own investigation when looking at a home. You can check to see if anybody died in it , but I don't see any problem if it was a natural death. You can also research the grounds (cemetary, burials).
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