Since the Amityville house recently hit the market (story somewhere) this topic came up.
Let’s assume for discussion purposes that the house suits your needs in all other ways (size, location, affordablity, etc.).
Also I don’t know if this needs to be the grisly murder that supposedly took place in the Amityville house which would surely attract an endless legion of gawkers.
I’m pretty sure I’d be o.k. with the purchasing of said house though my wife was quick to declare a “no way in hell” which would definitively put the matter to a rest. All of her friends took the same stance leading one to wonder if this might fall along gender lines but I didn’t want to lay this question out in poll form.
I’m almost certain a woman died in our house previous to us owning it–the wife of the previous owner had died very young of cancer, and I think she may have gone home to spend her last days. The realtor disclosed to us that one of the previous owners had died–apparently people care about these things. I’m not superstitious like that, but it seems others are, because the house ended up going down almost $40K in price before we bought it…in 2003.
Female - and it would depend on how notorious it was.
If I’m going to have to deal with it every time someone delivers something to the house or hears my address no thanks, but if it was one of those “small item on page 8” of the paper type things it wouldn’t bother me at all.
I like old houses and I figure odds are pretty good I’ve already lived in a house where someone has died. I don’t believe in ghosts so as long as the rest of the world isn’t making a big deal out of it and annoying me I’m good.
I’m a chick and I would have no problem with it at all, provided that it wasn’t so famous that my house drew excessive attention. In fact I’ve thought more than once about doing a quick scan of the news over the past couple of years and seeing if I can find houses where someone was murdered for the sole purpose of being able to negotiate the sale price down. I think that might make me a bad person.
Probably no. BTW, here in NC they are not required to disclose that fact to a buyer.
A house where a well known murder took place sold but it took a while. 6 months after the crime the police went back and found more evidence, including a tooth from the woman who was murdered. (before the house sold) Her husband is awaiting trial for her murder.
On one hand, I would be tempted by the price since I’m sure it’d be low. On the other hand, my extreme phobia of ghosts would keep me from even entering the house to look at it. That’s something I would rather not know about where I live. Actually, the house I own now is 94 years old, I’m sure at least one person’s died in it.
I don’t know how I’d feel. If it was big and grotesque and notorious and people were going to drive by and gawk all the time, probably not.
In California I believe that realtors have some disclosure requirements, though am not sure as to details. I do know that the house behind my Dad’s the guy committed suicide in the house and the realtors were required to disclose. He said, and I have no idea if this is true, that after a while they didn’t bother taking anyone Asian to view the house because they automatically said no once they heard.
This (other than the being female bit). My current apartment building is a good seventy years old, and the house I lived in before that was the better part of a century old as well. I’m certain I’ve lived in a building where someone has died, and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn someone had died in my specific apartment.
Who cares? Unless it creates other hassles - ongoing investigation, lookie-loos, or so on - it just doesn’t matter. There’s no such thing as ghosts, spirits, or any of that hokum.
Why not? A good many of us already live in houses or apartments where people died. The whole “go to the hospital to die” thing is pretty new. If where you live was built in the 1950’s or earlier, the chances are pretty good someone expired on the premises.
A topic somewhat similar to this often comes up on gun discussion boards: “Would you buy a gun that you knew had been used to kill someone?” There are typically lots of “no” answers, but then somebody inevitably brings up that if you own any military surplus or war souveniers, there’s a good chance it was used for that purpose.
In the end, objects are just objects and houses are just houses.
Supposedly someone was killed in my back yard. I didn’t know this before we moved in but I doubt it would keep me away unless it was some gang-related incident that might bring us trouble. It was just two drunk guys fighting and one got knife-happy.
I don’t believe in ghosts or spirits or “bad vibes” and I’ve lived here for three years with no weird happenings.
The simple fact of a murder having taken place wouldn’t keep me from buying a house. If it was a high profile case, particularly if children were murdered there I would be concerned that it might draw attention such as anniversary shrines in my driveway. I would not want that.
I would not buy Karla Homolka’s house if I could get it for a sandwich bag full of nickels.
My house is getting close in on a hundred years old - I’m sure somebody has died in it. No problem with me. I wouldn’t buy one with a crime so notorious that it would be a problem with people nosing around, of course, but a regular old murder? Why not? (Especially if there’s a price break.)
