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Old 11-12-2014, 08:16 PM
 
Location: Temporarily, in Limerick
2,898 posts, read 6,334,632 times
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I'm a little late to the thread, but, if it hasn't already been said, if one's house has been built 100-200+ yrs ago... common in varying parts of the country... it's realistic to assume someone has died in the home at some point. In Europe, homes are so much older, it's perhaps unrealistic to assume many haven't passed along the way. It wasn't too long ago that folks were sent home from hospital to pass, surrounded by their families.

I'm fairly squeamish, so a murder or suicide would make me a bit unsettled if I knew all the gory details, but if someone died of natural causes, I honestly think I'd just rather not know exactly where, so I don't over-exaggerate thuds & bumps in the night as something other than house settling or outdoor noise.

I'd buy a home if there had been a natural death in it unless I heard untoward haunting stories, whether one chooses to believe that exists or not. Again, having seen too many horror movies & having an active imagination, I'm afraid I'd make it a bigger deal that it may actually be, so I'd prefer to find a humble abode in which children played, kittens slept & there was lots of laughter, if it's possible to know such things.
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Old 11-12-2014, 08:28 PM
 
Location: Avignon, France
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Not unless they were still laying around.
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Old 11-12-2014, 08:31 PM
 
Location: Somewhere in America
15,479 posts, read 15,564,516 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sskink View Post
My brother and I are in the process of selling our childhood home in CT. Our lawyer just called yesterday to inform us that the buyers inserted wording in the contract requesting disclosure of any deaths related specifically to AIDS or ebola in addition to any other deaths in the house (there were two, one in 1954, one in 2006, both old age/natural causes).

Lawyer said he'd never seen anything like that before.
How would you know what happened in the house before you bought it unless someone told you? There's no easy way to find out if it's true unless it was some crazy crime. Sounds like the buyers are uber paranoid.
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Old 11-12-2014, 08:40 PM
 
Location: Mount Monadnock, NH
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Quote:
Originally Posted by coolgato View Post
Not only did a lot of people used to die at home and not in a hospital, but the wakes and funerals used to be held inside the house, usually in the living room. In the olden days, say 1800's, there were not very many funeral parlors and people used to just set up a couple of chairs in the living room, candles, and have the casket sitting atop something so mourners can view the body. If you look at old newspapers from the period, they would mention "Mr. So&so services to be held at 2:00 in the afternoon today" and the location would be a home address, presumably the deceased's former place of residence.

I wouldn't have a problem with an elderly person passing away in their bed of natural causes and especially if they led a somewhat happy existence and went peacefully.
Very true; not only did they hold funerals and wakes in people's houses, embalming was often times carried out in the home as well!
Before funeral homes became widespread here in the US (after about 1915), if embalming was performed, it was common for it to be done in the home where the person died, typically in a bedroom. Autopsies were also sometimes conducted in homes as well (like the murdered parents of Lizzie Borden of Fall River, Mass. in 1892--both victims were autopsied in the dining room).
It was also a practice to bury people on their own property in rural farming communities well into the later 1800s---this was especially common in the South. Every now and then you'll see a real estate listing for a house, often a former or even still working farm, which has a few burials included, which must be disclosed on MLS in most states.
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Old 11-12-2014, 09:06 PM
 
15,445 posts, read 21,289,268 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tumf View Post
If you were interested in a home to buy, and found out that one of the previous owners passed away (from natural causes) in that home, would that change your interest?

Please post reply yes or no - and give me reasons either way.
Unless they were buried in the basement, no. I grew up in a house where an aunt died of pneumonia, and I've lived in a house my MIL died in. Later, a young man went into the garage of this same house and hung himself. By the time of the suicide though, we had converted the house to a rental. Knowing how superstitious people are anymore, I always disclosed the suicide to potential renters.

Several years ago I looked at buying a rural west Texas home place where three people were shot and killed in the living room and hallway over a lover's spat. The house had been totally remodeled and was priced WAY below market. However, it wasn't the violent deaths that scared me off. It was the outrageous property taxes in that particular county.

I ended up buying a different west Texas farm that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that people have died in because of its age. When I bought the place, there was a large caliber bullet hole in the front door sill (inside to outside). I sealed the bullet hole and, although I have filmed orbs in the living room of this house where the bullet hole is located, I do not believe the orbs have anything to do with the dead or the living.
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Old 11-12-2014, 11:05 PM
 
8,495 posts, read 4,141,254 times
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Default Embalming and Autopsies

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austin023 View Post
Very true; not only did they hold funerals and wakes in people's houses, embalming was often times carried out in the home as well!
Before funeral homes became widespread here in the US (after about 1915), if embalming was performed, it was common for it to be done in the home where the person died, typically in a bedroom. Autopsies were also sometimes conducted in homes as well (like the murdered parents of Lizzie Borden of Fall River, Mass. in 1892--both victims were autopsied in the dining room).
It was also a practice to bury people on their own property in rural farming communities well into the later 1800s---this was especially common in the South. Every now and then you'll see a real estate listing for a house, often a former or even still working farm, which has a few burials included, which must be disclosed on MLS in most states.
I only knew about the funerals and wakes in people's houses but I didn't know about how they would embalm people, even doing autopsies on them in their own homes. That is totally freaking me out right now! A death, not to mention a funeral in a home is not great to hear but is acceptable and won't deter me from buying the house (if the person died very elderly and naturally) but the embalming and autopsy in the home thing is a total deal breaker - I don't care how old the person was when they died. The Lizzie Borden house history was not a deal breaker for the current owners though - they opened it up as an inn and I think they even have the original furniture like the sofa where I think the dad died and the step mom in the upstairs bedroom where I think they kept the same carpet and bed. It is good that in America there are a lot of funeral parlors now. In rural areas of China until recently, I think the family carried out burials themselves because even if there were these services available, families were so poor that they did most of the duties that a mortician would and that must be very difficult for them when they are grieving.
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Old 11-13-2014, 07:09 AM
 
Location: Coastal South Carolina
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No, not if it was natural causes, that's ok. If there was a murder, or horrible crime, anything like an evil person doing strange things there than no way.
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Old 11-13-2014, 09:07 AM
 
Location: Wallingford, CT
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Not if it was from natural causes.

Now, if it was from a meth overdose, or it was something in the home that killed them, sure.
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Old 11-14-2014, 05:09 AM
 
Location: Amelia Island
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Not to sidetrack the topic........but if one was to buy a home that had had a tragic death "murder suicide" do you think someone would rent the home if you purchased for investment property?
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Old 11-14-2014, 06:06 AM
Status: "Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!" (set 21 days ago)
 
Location: Cary, NC
43,176 posts, read 76,815,786 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JBtwinz View Post
Not to sidetrack the topic........but if one was to buy a home that had had a tragic death "murder suicide" do you think someone would rent the home if you purchased for investment property?
It is actually on topic, IMO.
And, I think the response is similar. Some will. Some won't.
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