Death in the Neighbourhood

[Jeremy Heaman]

Warning, this topic could be disturbing to some people.

I have recently put my condo up for sale, after a bad tenant left. This is a C class neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta and after the condo fees increased dramatically, it no lomger meets my investing criteria. 

I learned that someone had been killed in the buidling in the past week. It doesnt appear to be someone from the building.  But it does leave me with questions, do I keep trying to sell the property, do I go back to renting it out? In the years I had it (and according to EPS 90 days before) there hasn't been any violent crime in the area before. 

For those of you who have experienced this, how has it accected your property values?

[Nathan Gesner]

I've never had a murder in one of my rentals, but I've had murderers that were living in them at the time the crime was committed. I've also had about a dozen tenants die in their rentals, all within the last four years.

I don't say anything. My state doesn't require me to disclose such information and they were not usual situations that are likely to occur again, so it really doesn't apply. 

It sounds like your neighborhood may be a higher-crime area so you may want to disclose it or continue renting for a while to give it some space. Check your state laws to see what is required for disclosures.