Bought home, found out someone died in it.

General Real Estate Investing
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Bought home, found out someone died in it.

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Member since 2008 · 14 posts · 0 votes

I have a very strange question. Back in October my wife and I bought a new home. It was that house that wouldn't sell. Aside from the landscaping being terrible, the paint colors atrocious and some other minor cosmetic issues it was a great find. We have since completed the projects and made the house a home. This week we redid the front yard landscaping and have started to meet the neighbors. One of them lead on that the woman's husband died in the home. We verified this through our local police department but will not know the cause of death until monday when we can call the records division. My wife has a real problem with living in a home where someone died. After all this work that we did and the recent downturn in the market we will probably have a very difficult time selling. My neighbor said that the seller is required by law to notify us that someone died in the house. Is this true? I live in Ohio. If it is true what recourse do we have?? Looking for any advice I can get on this one as I have never come across it before.

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Member since 2008 · 1 post · 1 vote
19y

I also agree that the wife needs some serious psyhiatric help. While asking if a home has been the scene of a death in itself is not disturbing, this level she is taking it to certainly is.

Being an investor in an older historic area (Savannah), I come across what we call death houses all of the time. I've spent many countless hours in some of these houses - some of which have had dead people in them for many days or weeks. Not once have I fallen victim to any ghosts.

When I sell a house, I will disclose to the potential buyer that a death has occured in the home. I usually find that I don't have to disclose this death as it is usually public record. As this man and his wife has found, all you have to do is ask to see the incident report. I suggest any buyer utilize every available resource when purchasing a home - even calling the police to do a search on the address.

As far as the poster's children coming into contact with any biological matter, I can assure you this was cleaned up. Whenever a violent death occurs in a home, you can bet the medical examiner, funeral home, police, etc. will be contacting a disaster cleanup company. These companies have employees that are so well trained, they can completely clean a home in about two hours and you'd never be able to tell anything happened there.

For example, I recently purchased a home from an elderly woman's estate. No one had heard from this lady in months and the utilities had been shut off. After about five months when summer hit and the neighbors really noticed the smell, they called the police. This poor old lady had been on the living room floor in the hot Georgia heat for five months. You can imagine what she smelled and looked like.

Three months later when I bought the house from the old lady's estate, the smell was very much still there with a nasty stain on the living room carpet. A few coats of paint on the inside of the home and the services of a disaster clean up company, you can't even tell anything ever happened there. When I sold the house it smelled brand new.

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  • Judd Campbell
    Georgetown, KY · Member since 2014 · 179 posts · 55 votes
    11y
    Holy old thread! Well, did the OP end up suing? Or sell the house?
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  • Char Prado
    Real Estate Investor · Alexandria, VA · Member since 2011 · 85 posts · 26 votes
    11y

    In VA agents only disclose "material defects" not rumors or deaths.

    If your wife really can't live there it doesn't mean you're doomed..Get rid of it by doing a 1031 exchange for other property(ies), If money isn't an issue you can Sell with Owner financing. 

    You did say "death" no "murder"...alot of people die of natural causes in their homes everyday, in cases of murder learning the details is both disturbing and could be hard to get passed.  With that said if you completely renovate the walls, floors, ceiling, fixtures, etc it would be a new house with same address...

    I hope you can get it figured out and not lose your shirt!

    Good luck!

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  • Bill ExeterBusiness Member
    1031 Exchange Qualified Intermediary · San Diego, CA · Member since 2008 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    11y
    Originally posted by @Char Prado:

    In VA agents only disclose "material defects" not rumors or deaths.

    If your wife really can't live there it doesn't mean you're doomed..Get rid of it by doing a 1031 exchange for other property(ies), If money isn't an issue you can Sell with Owner financing. 

    You did say "death" no "murder"...alot of people die of natural causes in their homes everyday, in cases of murder learning the details is both disturbing and could be hard to get passed.  With that said if you completely renovate the walls, floors, ceiling, fixtures, etc it would be a new house with same address...

    I hope you can get it figured out and not lose your shirt!

    Good luck!

    The house is their primary residence, so a 1031 Exchange does not apply to this circumstances unless they choose to rent the property out long enough to demonstrate their intent to hold for rental/investment purposes.

    Exeter 1031 Exchange Services, LLC and Exeter Trust Company4.726 Reviews
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