Should My Realtor Told Me this House was Haunted ????? What made that Noise???
In the spring I posted a blog about haunting and crimes and should
a Realtor have disclosed these facts to buyers and their agents. It was my
second posting and to be in the holiday spirit I wanted to re release it and
add to it and do some further research. In
doing so I found some case on line that might have reversed what I had said originally.
Concerned about being in correct or misunderstanding something I did some further research and learned some interesting things, If a person had passed
away, or there was a crime committed in a home
a Realtor is not obligated to disclose this as these are not material
defects to a property.
However if a home has been publicized,
There have been homes in the New York
As realtors, due to laws we adhere to such Federal housing Laws
which prohibits saying which are good or bad neighborhoods, and other
rules which prevent us for commenting on crimes or haunting in the home, or
good or bad schools.
For instance if it said that house had some one die or there has
been a crime or suicide we can not mention it. The reason we are not able to
say even if we know such facts are true is because none of those factors have
any bearing on the soundness of the structure and or value of the
house in question and do not contribute to material defects. Of course it
is still a concern to buyers understandably.
Here is my advice if you are purchasing a home. There is this new
thing called Google, have you heard of it and its amazing for finding out all
sorts of things?! Put the address of the home you are considering of
purchasing, and scroll past the many web sites that will show it listed, and
see anything of haunting or crimes committed there. If the search is inundated
by for sale results, you can ask Google a question like is 333 Hubbabuba
drive , bannaville NY haunted or crime committed.
If this does not yield any results and you are still concerned
about paranormal activity you can contact local historical societies and
depending on the age of the home they may have some accounts, or you can check these sites and put the address in : http://www.haunted-places.com/ and http://hauntedhouses.com/.
In the NY area there are many old homes dating back to the
revolution if not even older back to the Dutch who originally colonized the
area. It is a forgone conclusion . There
are also stories, and rumors of buildings being haunted. As realtors as I
mentioned, we can not comment on any of this as it does not take away from the
soundness of the house, unless as mentioned it is in the public domain as being
known as such. If is it known throughout the neighborhood that
kids run from or do cars drive by just to photo it because of its known as a haunted
house.
So you may ask, so Bill have you ever experienced any supernatural
occurrences and do you believe in ghost and spirits? Well the answer is yes to
both questions. I not say how many of my
fellow realtors and I have shared stories of strange feelings of energy or
strange goings ons that were unexplained. I had 3 such experiences.
The Preview……
The first occurrence was the when previewing a home for clients. I had found out
that the agents parent had died and the house was an estate. I did not ask or
want to know if they had passed in the home. So I went in to look at the home
to see if it would work for my clients. I looked through the main level,
bedrooms, baths and kitchen which was dated but in nice shape. Then I
went downstairs to check the full basement for water or anything else. As I was
walking through I heard a door slam and became startled. I was concerned
because the house was vacant and feared not of ghosts but a squatter, or thief,
or some one who may be up to no good.
The showing….
Another time I was showing a
home to a client. for some reason I was picking up a negative energy or just a feeling
for some reason. I did not know why but thought it was just my imagination. When
we went down to the finished basement my client turned to me and said she was getting
a bad feeling like something bad happened here. I confessed and told her I felt
the same but thought it was just me and I didn’t want to mention it based on a
feeling. We felt a coldness in the basement. Obviously the client was not interested
in this home. Years later in chatting w another realtor, I had found out there
was a murder suicide in that home. Again did we experience something? You decide.
Another preview
Another time I was previewing a home and received a phone call from
someone and realized it might be a long call, so I sat on a dinning room chair
and took the call. I happen to look at a door way saw the head of a little boy.
I screamed and person on the other line was concerned what was happening. When I
told them they are in shock. I would
say the face was about a 8 to 10 years old. It was only there for a few seconds
and it did scare me at first. But afterwards I got a warm peaceful feeling after I saw the apparition. I know what I saw, but you decide.
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below is a useful felony map, and school stats, and haunted homes
registries :
Felony search in your area:
School reports:
haunted homes registry’s
