Would you?

[Scarlett]

Would you buy a house to live in with your family where a brutal murder took place? Said murder is widely known…..locally for sure but it has made National news too. 

Edited August 15, 2023 by Scarlett

[WildflowerMom]

For me, It would depend on how brutal. 

[fraidycat]

It would depend. How long ago did it happen, does the price reflect the history, what is "the vibe" of the place - (you know how some places just feel gloomy and depressing and others feel light and peaceful, or is that just a me thing?). Etc. 

It's not an easy yes or easy no, IMO.

[Katy]

No, probably not 

[Scarlett]

Just now, WildflowerMom said:

For me, It would depend on how brutal. 

The kind where the body was chopped up and dumped out of state. Where a mattress was found burned in the back yard, and luminal lit up in at least 2 rooms in the house. 

[SKL]

Probably not, though I don't have a rational reason....

[Scarlett]

1 minute ago, fraidycat said:

It would depend. How long ago did it happen, does the price reflect the history, what is "the vibe" of the place - (you know how some places just feel gloomy and depressing and others feel light and peaceful, or is that just a me thing?). Etc. 

It's not an easy yes or easy no, IMO.

Murderer is still awaiting trial. 

[WildflowerMom]

Idk.  I wouldn’t if children were murdered.    I might have a priest or pastor come in and bless it.    I’m not bothered by deaths in houses, but I know some people who won’t live in a house if there was a death in it.    

[Elizabeth86]

 

4 minutes ago, SKL said:

Probably not, though I don't have a rational reason....

Same. 

[Scarlett]

It might be because the victim as a casual acquaintance…..I had been in her home….but I could never get over it. I would never stop thinking about it. 

[EKS]

I would not.

[strawberries]

Absolutely not.

[WildflowerMom]

If I knew her, probably not because I would think of her all the time.    That would def change things for me.   

[Scarlett]

Just now, WildflowerMom said:

If I knew her, probably not because I would think of her all the time.    That would def change things for me.   

I barely knew her. But I have kept up with the search, investigation, details etc.  it is just too sick.  

[itsheresomewhere]

If I liked the house a lot, I might.  But if you think about it with older homes especially there is always a chance someone died in it.  And the cause of death might not be known.  

[Grace Hopper]

Nope 

[Grace Hopper]

29 minutes ago, fraidycat said:

It would depend. How long ago did it happen, does the price reflect the history, what is "the vibe" of the place - (you know how some places just feel gloomy and depressing and others feel light and peaceful, or is that just a me thing?). Etc. 

It's not an easy yes or easy no, IMO.

Or how I might feel laying in bed alone in the wee hours when my husband is traveling…. I have a vivid imagination. 😟

But I say no mostly due to poor resale value. 

[Grace Hopper]

29 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

The kind where the body was chopped up and dumped out of state. Where a mattress was found burned in the back yard, and luminal lit up in at least 2 rooms in the house. 

Ok well this raises it to Hell No level for me!

[annandatje]

41 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Would you buy a house to live in with your family where a brutal murder took place? Said murder is widely known…..locally for sure but it has made National news too. 

Yes, I would assuming price was reasonable.  May try to negotiate price down due to murder if it was a buyer’s market.

[Katy]

I lived in one apartment where my neighbor committed suicide. After the police interviewed the whole building agreed we would not want to know and didn’t tell the next tenant. 

[Spryte]

No. I wouldn’t want to buy any house where something like that had happened so recently.

I have kids who are susceptible to ghost story fear, though — they are even a little bit creeped out hearing the civil war ghost stories the neighbors tell about our property.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Spryte

[Vintage81]

Definitely not 

[Clarita]

Nope. I can't shake off that culture I was born into where that house now has bad vibes. In my head I don't believe it but ... I can't get the rest of me onboard with that.

[JennyD]

Yes.  A house is just a house, as far as I'm concerned.

I am sorry that this happened to someone you knew, though, Scarlett. How awful.  

 

[TheReader]

I wouldn't, and I'm so sorry that happened to someone you knew even a little bit. How awful. 

 

[Clarita]

25 minutes ago, Katy said:

I lived in one apartment where my neighbor committed suicide. After the police interviewed the whole building agreed we would not want to know and didn’t tell the next tenant. 

I thought these things need to be disclosed for a certain amount of time for a home sales. 

[Murphy101]

57 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

It might be because the victim as a casual acquaintance…..I had been in her home….but I could never get over it. I would never stop thinking about it. 

hey now. Random dead bodies is different from the bodies of those we actually know. 

My answer would be yes certainly if I didn’t know. Maybe if I did and no if I couldn’t remember more of the life lived in it than the death scenarios of someone I actually knew. 

[ddcrook]

I once bought a condo where an elderly man had recently died. I had no problem with that. But no, I would not in the circumstances that you described. I would think about it too much.

[Katy]

5 minutes ago, Clarita said:

I thought these things need to be disclosed for a certain amount of time for a home sales. 

We’re talking about an apartment building. And I think what needs to be disclosed varies by state.

[elegantlion]

No. I drive by a house on a regular basis where a murder of a child took place just over a year ago. It's sad just to drive by. I also used to live down the street where an entire family died in their sleep because of smoke inhilation. They tore the house down. 

My great-grandmother died in our house as a kid and my mom lives in a house built in 1889 - I'm assuming at some point someone has died there. Those don't bother me, it's the murder aspect that would make it a hard no. 

[regentrude]

No. I have not even thought about whether it would bother me personally - it is enough to know that it bothers plenty of people and that would affect resale value.

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

It might be because the victim as a casual acquaintance…..I had been in her home….but I could never get over it. I would never stop thinking about it. 

Under those circumstances, NEVER!

If it happened a hundred years ago, maybe then I might, but I still kind of doubt it unless it was absolutely the house of my dreams. 

I do think something like that would affect resale of the home in the future, though -- and not just for that particular house, but for neighboring homes as well. There was a violent murder-suicide in a house not too far from us, and when the next door neighbors put their house up for sale with a realtor we know, he couldn't figure out why they weren't getting any offers in a crazy hot market, but once he saw all the feedback from the showings, most of the people didn't want the house because they knew about the murder-suicide next door. (It was fairly recent and had been all over the news.) The house eventually sold, but at a much lower price than expected. 

I wouldn't care if someone had died of natural causes in a house, but a violent murder? I think I would pass on that house.

[Catwoman]

1 hour ago, Grace Hopper said:

Ok well this raises it to Hell No level for me!

I'm right there with you!

[Heartstrings]

Is

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

I barely knew her. But I have kept up with the search, investigation, details etc.  it is just too sick.  

Definitely not if I even vaguely knew the person, or the case.  
 

A stranger? A case I was previously unaware of?  I think I would.  I might have a few different religious people come bless the house or something.   Gotta cover all the basis.  
 

I would definitely want a discount to make up for a lower resale value later.  

A violent murder would be well publicized, but who knows what other terrible things might have gone on in any given house that no one ever knew about?  Any pre existing house you move into could have had child abuse, incest, rape, any sort of evil thing could have happened in private within 4 walls.  

[Scarlett]

The buyers aren’t from this area. They bought it at auction.  They were told the lady who owned it died. Nothing was disclosed about the brutality or that it happened in the house.  There are problems with the title and I have urged the buyers to back out, but they still want it even after I told them a lot of horrific details. When they talked to the auction company they (auction company) claimed ignorance (yeah, right) and readily agreed to send a hazmat cleaning service in.  

I do believe there  a  law about  disclosing such a crime happening in the house. 

 

[MercyA]

No, I wouldn't. 

[HomeAgain]

I don't know.  It would depend on how much the house matched my dream home: lovely woodwork, build in bookcases, porch, and tree for a swing.  In that case, I wouldn't let it bother me. 

I already live in a home with an active little boy ghost and a very silent older gentleman who crosses the front yard daily in his work clothes.  I'm okay playing 6th Sense helper to a murdered ghost if I had to.

[Catwoman]

36 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

The buyers aren’t from this area. They bought it at auction.  They were told the lady who owned it died. Nothing was disclosed about the brutality or that it happened in the house.  There are problems with the title and I have urged the buyers to back out, but they still want it even after I told them a lot of horrific details. When they talked to the auction company they (auction company) claimed ignorance (yeah, right) and readily agreed to send a hazmat cleaning service in.  

I do believe there  a  law about  disclosing such a crime happening in the house. 

 

Why would you urge the buyers to back out? 

Why are you even involved in any of this? (If I missed a post somewhere, I apologize!)

[WildflowerMom]

5 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

I don't know.  It would depend on how much the house matched my dream home: lovely woodwork, build in bookcases, porch, and tree for a swing.  In that case, I wouldn't let it bother me. 

I already live in a home with an active little boy ghost and a very silent older gentleman who crosses the front yard daily in his work clothes.  I'm okay playing 6th Sense helper to a murdered ghost if I had to.

What’s the little boy do?   Do you see him like a real person or a mist?   I need more info, 😊.

[HomeAgain]

4 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

What’s the little boy do?   Do you see him like a real person or a mist?   I need more info, 😊.

He talks to us.  It started a few weeks after we moved in.  DH and I were woken in the middle of the night by what we thought was our 8yo, except the child was calling me by a version of 'mom' that my own kid never, ever used.  He was so sad.  Oldest ds has had full conversations with him and didn't realize it wasn't his brother (who was nowhere even near him during those times).  He likes to try to play the PS3 and turn on the lightsabers.  He can't get the games to work for him, but it doesn't stop him! 

We have tried to piece out who he was based on the age and markings left on the wall.  Town police records weren't digitized until a few years before we moved in, and many were just scrapped, so no knowledge of any call or ambulance to the address.  I met the people who built the house (coincidentally at a wake for my neighbor) and the first thing they said was "there's no ghost in the house".  So I'm pretty sure they knew, too. 😄  I wish I knew who this kid's mommy was so she could help him find peace.  He seems so lonely.

[Grace Hopper]

3 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

He talks to us.  It started a few weeks after we moved in.  DH and I were woken in the middle of the night by what we thought was our 8yo, except the child was calling me by a version of 'mom' that my own kid never, ever used.  He was so sad.  Oldest ds has had full conversations with him and didn't realize it wasn't his brother (who was nowhere even near him during those times).  He likes to try to play the PS3 and turn on the lightsabers.  He can't get the games to work for him, but it doesn't stop him! 

We have tried to piece out who he was based on the age and markings left on the wall.  Town police records weren't digitized until a few years before we moved in, and many were just scrapped, so no knowledge of any call or ambulance to the address.  I met the people who built the house (coincidentally at a wake for my neighbor) and the first thing they said was "there's no ghost in the house".  So I'm pretty sure they knew, too. 😄  I wish I knew who this kid's mommy was so she could help him find peace.  He seems so lonely.

So you introduced yourselves and they suddenly just made that statement? It was it in response to you mentioning it first?

[kathyl]

No, I wouldn't want to live in it. 

Along with what others are saying, it would cross my mind frequently that friends or relatives of the former owners might show up randomly at the house for whatever reason.  Not to mention curiosity seekers.  I mean, I will go find places I've read about in the local news - the house that caught fire in the neighborhood next to us, the location of the couple of bodies found under some bridge in the last year, the house where a woman was murdered by her grown stepson in a nearby neighborhood, the filming of a movie in a nearby neighborhood recently, and so on.  

Also, I have a tendency to wonder about the former occupants of every house I've lived in.  And I really don't like knowing who they were and what happened to them.  For that reason, I like that realtors handle the transactions and really like that the owners are not there when we look at the house.  So a murder would be a definite NO for that house.

[Ting Tang]

No, I would not want to live in a home where someone was murdered. 

[WildflowerMom]

@HomeAgain, I wonder if you could look through microfiche at the local library?     It’s possible he didn’t actually die there, but his spirit is just attached to the house for sentimental reason.  

[Scarlett]

26 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

Why would you urge the buyers to back out? 

Why are you even involved in any of this? (If I missed a post somewhere, I apologize!)

I know the buyers. 

[HomeAgain]

4 minutes ago, Grace Hopper said:

So you introduced yourselves and they suddenly just made that statement? It was it in response to you mentioning it first?

A neighbor introduced us to each other and that was the first thing they said. Not nice to meet you or anything else.  Just "there's no ghost there". Well, okie-dokie.  Then they asked if the treehouse was still there (it is not.  It fell down and rotted).

No, I had never mentioned it to my neighbors. I figured if they thought we should know the home's history they would tell us.  I did talk to a cop friend in the next town who helped me to figure out ways to find records.  That's it.  People don't really like it when you mention ghosts in real life.  It kind of creeps them out.  Or they think you're crazy.  It usually boils down to one or the other.  Our family just kind of rolls with it and when an overnight guest mentions they were talking to youngest ds, we just kind of nod along (he sleeps in the basement when we have guests, two floors below the bedrooms). 

[Scarlett]

The house we last lived  in had a pool.  The neighbor boy told us a 2 year old had drowned there.  That was sad to me but did not make me wish I did not live there. 

[Bambam]

I know the house had nothing to do with the murder. But I don't think I'd want to live there. And I think it would negatively affect the resale value of the property, and that is one thing we do consider when we purchase a home. 

But I would expect that information to be in the disclosure form that you have to fill out on the home that you are selling, I think that would make a difference to folks interesting in purchasing. 

[Scarlett]

14 minutes ago, Bambam said:

I know the house had nothing to do with the murder. But I don't think I'd want to live there. And I think it would negatively affect the resale value of the property, and that is one thing we do consider when we purchase a home. 

But I would expect that information to be in the disclosure form that you have to fill out on the home that you are selling, I think that would make a difference to folks interesting in purchasing. 

Well it was a foreclosure and the auction company claimed they did not know about the murder. 

[Grace Hopper]

49 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

A neighbor introduced us to each other and that was the first thing they said. Not nice to meet you or anything else.  Just "there's no ghost there". Well, okie-dokie.  Then they asked if the treehouse was still there (it is not.  It fell down and rotted).

No, I had never mentioned it to my neighbors. I figured if they thought we should know the home's history they would tell us.  I did talk to a cop friend in the next town who helped me to figure out ways to find records.  That's it.  People don't really like it when you mention ghosts in real life.  It kind of creeps them out.  Or they think you're crazy.  It usually boils down to one or the other.  Our family just kind of rolls with it and when an overnight guest mentions they were talking to youngest ds, we just kind of nod along (he sleeps in the basement when we have guests, two floors below the bedrooms). 

That is fascinating. I imagine the boy being connected to the tree house - perhaps he fell out of it? (Told y’all I have a vivid imagination!)