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Someone Died in My House!

The Consumerist blog has a question: Would you buy a house if you knew that someone had committed suicide in it?

Massachusetts law says:

Section 114. The fact or suspicion that real property may be or is psychologically impacted shall not be deemed to be a material fact required to be disclosed in a real estate transaction. “Psychologically impacted” shall mean an impact being the result of facts or suspicions including, but not limited to, the following:

(a) that an occupant of real property is now or has been suspected to be infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or any other disease which reasonable medical evidence suggests to be highly unlikely to be transmitted through the occupying of a dwelling;

(b) that the real property was the site of a felony, suicide or homicide; and

(c) that the real property has been the site of an alleged parapsychological or supernatural phenomenon.

The law clearly takes the side of "it doesn't matter what has happened in this house, as long as the house itself is safe". Sue, on the other hand, insists she wouldn't have bought her home had she known about the suicide that had taken place within it, and feels ripped off.

Is the law fair? Would you have bought the house? What do you think?

Tags: brights, superstition

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Nerd on February 12, 2010 at 11:31am

When I was a child, my grandparents moved into my hometown to retire. They bought a house from a woman who was a grandmother of a classmate of mine. After I mentioned this fact, she told me that her great-grandmother (the realtor's mother) died on the kitchen table in that house. I remember thinking it was a bizarre coincidence, but I never really was disturbed by it.

Permalink Reply by RustyBertrand on February 12, 2010 at 11:33am

Superstitious BS. Is she suing for alleged parapsychological or supernatural phenomenon? Dangerous trends start like this.

Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on February 12, 2010 at 11:38am

Wow, I actually thought realtors had to disclose that kind of information. I wouldn't think twice about buying a post suicide house, especially if the price was lowered. Any time I can benefit financially from superstitious screwballs, I'm down with it ;-)

Permalink Reply by Aiden on February 12, 2010 at 11:43am

My sentiments exactly.

Permalink Reply by Rosemary LYNDALL WEMM on February 12, 2010 at 11:59am

IMO, the law is fair and Sue's reaction is unreasonable because it is based on superstition and illogical emotion.

Permalink Reply by Ted Delorme on February 12, 2010 at 12:21pm

Well, bloodstains on the wall would be a turn-off, but I think I'd be okay with it. I have no idea what happened in my house or any of the apartments I lived in before I got there, and I'm just not that curious as long as it didn't compromise the structure of the building. Leprosy would probably be a deal-breaker, though...

Permalink Reply by Kara Smith on July 2, 2010 at 9:08pm

Haha! Yeah, I wouldn't care as long as I didn't have to trip over chunks of bone. :-P

Permalink Reply by John D on February 12, 2010 at 6:42pm

It is a good law and Sue is a nitwit.

Sometimes we need laws to protect us from nitwits!

Permalink Reply by The Internet Saves on February 12, 2010 at 7:47pm

sounds like superstition to me
My grand father died in his house while I was there, his last gasp right in front of me.
I resided there for a few years... there was drama, not from ghosts though.

Bad vibes... yeah right, that's what you get from real life creeps and there's plenty of them.
Usually you catch them slipping and saying some off-base stuff; wait where the hell is this conversation going... oh yeah
if the neighbors are OK wtf is the problem. some (ok many post-bush) folks have no home.

Permalink Reply by Ian Mason on February 16, 2010 at 9:12am

Yes I would buy it but would try to get the price down.

The flat where I live now, rented from a housing soc. has usually been used by pensioners so it's likely that someone has died here in the last 25 years and I ain't been haunted yet.

Permalink Reply by Javier Garcia on March 8, 2010 at 10:01pm