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Looking for a little advice on this. I have a few sfh rentals. One of them had some significant damage done to it in Feb. of this year. To make a long story short I evicted a tenant and two days later someone kicked in the back door and removed the furnace. They left the back door open and it was about 3 degrees that day, pipes burst all over (was PVC) and the entire house was a disaster area. After what was the worst hour of my life walking around the place I made a police report and called my insurance company. Total damage 18k counting the stolen furnace and the 600 dollar water bill I got among other things. Some questions: I believe that I don't include insurance payments as income and also do not write off the money I paid back out, but what about items such as the furnace? Do I add the new furnace to a depreciation table? Any other insights?

I do have other rentals and I could see this as a viable rental due to the price I got on it. I am currently working with a lawyer on the issue of carpet replacement as it was not properly cleaned up. I am also likely to go after a small amount of damages for the amount I would lose if I disclosed this information when I sell. The only reason that I am really doing that is that I am subject to relocation at work and can't afford to take the risk of not being able to sell in the event that I am relocated. The amount of homes on the market makes this even worse. I got a good deal and could put the home at a good price point, however, I think that with all the homes on the market a lot of potential buyers will not consider the property where there was a shooting death in the master bedroom. I need to price considerably below market to have a good shot of moving the property. We are trying to quantify this right now. 15k? 20k? 5k? I think that it would be a significant amount of money 15-30k just due to the market conditions and the nature of the suicide that occured. Hopefully replacing the carpet will help my wife get over it and I don't wind up getting relocated in the next few years.

Ok, I have the facts. Exactly 18 months prior to closing the seller's husband shot himself in the master bedroom while lying in bed. What we thought were previously rust stains were actually most likely blood stains. You can see the entire outline of their bed stained in brown. The stains were rinsed a little bit but are actually so bad that we could have never believed that they were blood. My wife mentioned on two occasions that she was completely freaked out by anything involving dead people and by the response by the realtor and broker make it obvious that they were concealing their knowledge. This was once during one of my wifes long conversations with the realtor (I have phone records, they spoke for a total of 33 hours by phone prior to the sale) and once when we were signing our offer when they laughingly shrugged off the possibility of a death in a two year old home. The first time my wife told her that we were looking at homes that were nearly new to avoid having to live in a house where someone died. The second time the broker was talking about how he buys things at estate sales and my wife said that she just couldn't do that because she has a real problem dealing with death. Both times they shrugged it off like "lots of people feel that way" They said that the reason she moved was to be closer to work. After checking into this she actually moved 25 miles farther from her workplace. The house was so misrepresented it is unbelievable. Their responses were so canned that I cannot believe that we didn't see through it. The blood stains are so bad that I can't believe that she didn't rip up the carpet. I am not comfortable lying about this if I get transfered at work and need to sell. What have my children (18 months and 5 years) been exposed to. Who is going to pay for this carpet. This is completely unbelievable. I did speak to a lawyer and he said to sue to the hilt. I just want the carpet replaced and something to makeup for the lost market value when I do sell and disclose this. Is this reasonable? Should I take the lawyers advice and go for broke? I have some serious moral issues with that concept but I also have issues thinking of what my children could have been (but hopefully havent been) exposed to as a result of this whole mess. Who is actually liable, the seller, the broker/agent, both, nobody? Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am so completely irritated by this that I can't even make a sound judgment.

Right now we know that the seller's husband killed himself in the home. We have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out exactly what happened because the police records division is only open on weekdays here and the person at the station that answered the phone said that she could not tell us what happened but could confirm that he died in the home. The story from the neighbors is either "I don't know" (while looking at the ground) or "I heard he shot himself" I will probably have to see an attorney now because I have a job where I could be relocated with no notice and may have to sell. If this were to occur in the near future I need to find out if I would be required to disclose my knowledge of this event. If I am required to disclose then I need to seek damages as I will very likely have difficulty selling this house.

The Realtor is allowed to disclose this in Ohio. Until about two years ago they had to disclose this type of thing if it occurred within 3 years of the sale. The law recently changed to more vague language which could still include this sort of thing. From what I understand more less you cannot withhold "anything" that may affect the sale. The seller has the responsibility to disclose and the buyer doesn't have the responsibility to ask. We did directly ask and the question was pretty much dodged. I don't think that they should tear down all the homes that people died in but I should have knowledge that some guy blew his brains out in the house no more than a year before. How do I know that it was properly cleaned up? What if my 1 year old is crawling on carpet that still has some type of human matter in it and then putting his fingers in his mouth. The carpet is definitely the original carpet. (I assume they steam cleaned it) Now I feel that I spent 200k on something that was completely misrepresented. The story we were told was that she moved because of her job and needed to unload the house as she was now stuck with two payments. I figure "hey a great deal on a two year old home with some cosmetic issues, Great!" After some research it turns out she didn't move more than 15 miles away. The more I think about this the more it makes me mad. I am not at all uncomfortable living here but I am very angry with the lack of honesty and the bold faced lying that went on just to make commission.

This is definately interesting. I did find out that he actually killed himself in the home. that explains why someone would be so desperate to move out of a two year old home. From what it sounds like this is a non issue as it will not affect me in the event of a sale. I am definitely irritated that the Realtor almost without doubt concealed this information though. My wife asked pretty directly and if nothing else it is very unethical of them to not reveal that they knew.

Thanks. What if we directly asked about a death in the house. My wife is a freak about this sort of thing and when we were in the house she made mention that she wanted a home that was newer because she specifically didn't want to live where someone had died. Looking back the realtor's story changed from "I talk to her weekly" to "I don't know about her personal life" Wouldn't this be considered a type of material defect as we certainly would have not bought the home if this information wasn't deliberately witheld. If nothing else the house sold for more money than it would have by withholding this information. This bothers my wife a lot but doesn't bother me. The only issue that bothered me was whether I would be required to disclose this information in the event of a future sale. If I would have been required to disclose this when I sell I would probably have to go to court.

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.

I actually used lexington law for a year. My score went from 560 to about 708 in that time. Some of that was lexington some of it was me paying bills over time. It is awfully expensive if you think about it (I think it was like 80 per month) but I can't say that I was unhappy. I had a some accounts remove late payments. I would really like to know how much it really helped though as I did pay on time for a year while using them and that was the third consecutive year of on time payments.

Be smart. No money down can work but you need to find the right deal. I have been looking at a website created by someone who is a complete fool about how he lost his a$$ buying houses no money down. He is so overleveraged that it isn't even funny. Don't speculate that the appreciation will make you money in a couple of months. You make the money when you buy the property. The site was called iamfacingforeclosure.com and is a great example of all the things that you don't want to do.... paying too much, starting too fast, being overleveraged, buying sight unseen with little exp, the list goes on and on........... also, it doesn't appear that it would be a good idea to purchase out of state for a beginner, just in case that wasn't already obvious.