Have you ever wanted to spend the night in a haunted house? Better yet, how about spending 30 years there with a fixed mortgage rate, a golden retriever and a white picket fence? According to Realtor.com's Haunted Housing Report (2013), 62% of potential buyers would NOT be deterred from purchasing a dream home if the house came already furnished with "things that go bump in the night." In fact, 12% of those surveyed said that they would pay full market value for a home said to be haunted, if not more. Given that 1 out of every 3 buyers I've represented have asked me if anyone has ever died in the house they're considering to purchase, the answer to this question does matter, whether or not a welcome mat is set out for the "uninvited" or a full blown exorcism is ordered. And since each state has its own real property laws regarding disclosure of any sort of paranormal activity or even death in the house, a prospective buyer may have to do his/her "due diligence" to uncover whether their dream house today has had a nightmare of a past.
In my state of New York, the real property law, "Caveat Emptor," AKA "let the buyer beware," is in place, leaving the buyer with the responsibility of investigating a property's history for his/her own benefit. The local library, the town Historical Society (particularly if the property in question is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites,) and the assistance of your local neighborhood realtor can usually award someone any and all of the information needed on a "stigmatized property," which can refer to houses deemed to be haunted on some level. The website "Porch.com" documents certain design projects undertaken at a residence and encourages the owners to reveal a little history behind the work being done on the property as well, possibly giving a glimpse into a paranormal cause of a certain design project or renovation. For the more morbidly curious individual, websites like "DiedInHouse.com" can serve up all of the deadly details of a property for the low, low price of $11.99 per search. Personally, I find that the local neighbors and town folk tend to have the 411 on any house with a past and certainly love to dish out the information when politely asked.
Let's not forget the importance of the home inspection usually done just before the buyer signs the purchase contracts. Although, as my home inspector and friend Tom Walsh of All Aspects Home Inspections aptly puts it, the home inspector cannot go beyond the state's Standards of Practice methodology to attempt to identify any sort of paranormal presence in a home, a home inspector can help determine what structural or "age-appropriate" conditions of the home might be the cause of the eerie sounds that haunted houses are so cliché in producing. Banging on the walls, creaks in the floor boards, etc. The more technical kind of buyer can even set a continuous radon monitor machine, if it can be acquired, on the premises in hopes of revealing any activity or "presence" in the house other than those living and breathing there on an expected basis. There are mediums in most cities and towns as well who offer services in locating and identifying a paranormal presence in the home, helping the prospective buyers discern whether or not they have a real "ghost of a chance" at turning a house, haunted house into their home, sweet home.
So, for the buyers out there who decide they are ready, willing and able to be "ghost hosts" to any transparent co-occupants of their new home, congratulations! You are likely to receive a discount off of the market value of the home, you'll probably have the most popular house on the block at Halloween, and think about the 24-hour, in-house, and completely free security system you now have for your largest investment! To boot, the website WikiHow's article titled "How To Live In A Haunted House" is a must-read even for the sheer amusement of the step-by-step instructions on how to peacefully co-exist with the Caspers in your new home. I don't know about you, but for me, it's always educational to learn what furniture may be more respectful of a ghost's personal space and which topics of discussion are taboo when such ghosts are present in the room.
Happy Halloween.....and BOO!
http://www.wikihow.com/Live-in-a-Haunted-House
http://www.usinspect.com/insights/blog/haunted-home-inspection-houses
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