# A nice house, with a spooky caveat. Would you still buy it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364 "2012-05-28T19:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/1 "2012-05-28T19:14:36Z")
It’s time for you to get new digs. Maybe a job needs you to move, maybe you need a bigger place, maybe you’re just bored of your old digs. While house hunting, you spot a place that would be perfect. You arrange a viewing. The location is great, the house itself suits you down to the ground. It’s within your price range, even [cheaper](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIufrOJ7InI) than you would think, by some margin. Just one problem. A few years ago there was a murder in the house, a jealous husband stabbing his wife to death, gruesome stuff. The current owners of the house now want to move because they believe the house is haunted and the house has a sinister local reputation for spooky paranormal goings on. Pathologists went over ever square inch and the house is as clean as the day its first owners moved in, no blood stains or anything. The murderer was caught and is spending life in prison with no chance of parole. Would its past put you off? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/2 "2012-05-28T19:23:22Z")
I’d decline for re-sale reasons. We move a lot, and that sounds like it’s going to turn off a lot of future buyers. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/3 "2012-05-28T19:28:18Z")
In my state, you have no obligation to disclose any death or crime that has occurred in a home when you sell it. I’d buy it in a heartbeat, enjoy it, gradually update the appearance of the home, and in 20 or more years when it’s time to sell I’ll bet no one will even remember the murder ever happened. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/4 "2012-05-28T19:28:24Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I’d decline for re-sale reasons. We move a lot, and that sounds like it’s going to turn off a lot of future buyers. So you’d just walk away, **Renee**? Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/5 "2012-05-28T19:29:58Z")
I’d jump at the chance. If and when I buy a place it’ll be for the long-term, so re-sale doesn’t bother me, and I’m sure I’d be able to find someone else who, like me, would be happy to buy the place anyway - for a slightly lower price than local places maybe, but since I’d also paid a slightly lower price, that’d be fine. Plus it’d just be a cool story. My teenage emo daughter would LOVE it. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/6 "2012-05-28T19:30:38Z")
> [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](#): > > In my state, you have no obligation to disclose any death or crime that has occurred in a home when you sell it. I’d buy it in a heartbeat, enjoy it, gradually update the appearance of the home, and in 20 or more years when it’s time to sell I’ll bet no one will even remember the murder ever happened. Well except for that one nice family that moved in who didn’t pay heed to the warnings that it was haunted. Such a shame. Personally I’d easily go for it. And if “strange happenings” start happening, I can start charging gullible superstitious folk to view the happenings. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/7 "2012-05-28T19:48:16Z")
My wife would veto it. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/8 "2012-05-28T19:56:49Z")
I would totally buy it and have a minister come and bless it before I moved in. While I consciously know that it really wouldn’t make any difference, it would help my subconscious allow me to sleep at night. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/9 "2012-05-28T20:36:49Z")
It’s a win-win. \*If there’s no ghosts, then I get a great house at a great deal which in 20, 30 years time might actually draw a premium price due to its “colorful history” (as a realtor, excuse me, REALTOR would put it). - If there are ghosts, it confirms there is the possibility of existence after death, which is really awesome. ---
**Author:** ![partlycloudy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/partlycloudy/32/3114_2.png) [@partlycloudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partlycloudy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/10 "2012-05-28T21:55:12Z")
Heeeeelllll no. If I didn’t know about the murder stuff, that’d be one thing, but if I knew, there’s just no way… I get creeped out way too easily. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/11 "2012-05-28T22:44:40Z")
My _only_ hesitation would be if the “spooky occurences” might be actual, mundane issues. “Whenever it rains heavily, a ghost causes the basement to flood 1-2 inches!” ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/12 "2012-05-28T22:45:18Z")
I’d make someone check that it had been cleaned properly. I saw a show once about how the government/law enforcement/whatever doesn’t help clean crime scenes, and often people decide to do it themselves (having a pro do it properly can be very expensive) with disgusting and potentially life threatening results. If that checked out, I’d buy it, no problem. I wouldn’t tell my kids though, they’d freak. And I won’t lie; there would be nights when I was alone that I would get seriously creeped out. But I’d still buy it, if it was clean. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/13 "2012-05-28T22:49:58Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > “Whenever it rains heavily, a ghost causes the basement to flood 1-2 inches!” …of blood. 😉😃 “…are you sure?” “Ah B positive…!” ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/14 "2012-05-29T00:37:23Z")
I voted Other, because while I’d buy it in a heartbeat, it wouldn’t just be because I thought ghosties and such were nonsense. I do, mostly, but I also have a super-romantic-gothly side, and so both sides would be on that like white on rice, but for very different reasons. Super-Practical Me: Hell yes I want a nice cheap house! Dumbasses can’t get past some creepy legends and a squicky past to enjoy a beautiful house in a lovely location? Sucks to be them! Gothly-Romantic Me: Oh how nice, now we can live here and have a family and be loving and happy and counteract the negative feng shui and bad karma from the past! (Yes, sometimes my GR side makes me gag too.) ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/15 "2012-05-29T01:03:07Z")
I don’t think I would. I was house-hunting a few years ago and it was disclosed to me that the place I was considering putting in an offer had had a suicide in recent years in the bathroom. Nice house, nice property, but I couldn’t get past the idea of someone killing him/herself there. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/16 "2012-05-29T01:14:59Z")
No, I wouldn’t because I would worry that I couldn’t sell it later. Death in a house is nothing to worry about. I imagine most old houses have had people die in them, but if I second guess a house where murder was done I know someone else would, too. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/17 "2012-05-29T03:23:01Z")
If it was my dream house and I planned to live there forever, I would buy it. I would probably make a condition of sale that it be check out for having been cleaned properly. I would also probably have my priest come by and bless it just to be safe. If I was only going to be there short-term, I wouldn’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/18 "2012-05-29T03:53:49Z")
I vote “other” because there simply isn’t enough information to give a definite answer. I’d have to know exactly how cheap the house was, and the likelihood that I would need to sell it again in the next few decades. FWIW, after we bought our house, we learned that (1) the previous owner committed suicide, although not inside the house; (2) the owner before that one was institutionalized due to mental illness. Of course we feel sympathy for the families involved in those tragedies, but setting that aside for a bit of black humor, we find it all pretty funny - “you’d have to be CRAZY to buy this property!” (Probably true; it’s rather odd.) ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/19 "2012-05-29T04:48:44Z")
A minus: not too many people show up to your parties. A BIG plus: no surprise overnight guests! Few relatives would invite themselves for a long-term stay! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364/20 "2012-05-29T04:58:43Z")
Buying that house wouldn’t even cross my mind. The moment I was told we’d leave rather quickly. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-nice-house-with-a-spooky-caveat-would-you-still-buy-it/623364.md?page=2)