Who You Gonna Call? - Do Home Stigmas Effect Value?

Is there a ghost in the house? While taxes and death are among life's certainties, many buyers feel squeamish about purchasing a home where someone actually died. According to an article in the New York Times, it seems the method of passing rather than the actual death is the real concern. If a suicide or murder took place the home may command a lower price and sit on the market longer. Case in point, the Menendez home (where Erik and Lyle Menendez murdered their parents) sold for $1-million less than its value while Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' Fifth Avenue home has appreciated substantially.

Today, a home associated with a murder or suicide can become what some brokers call a stigmatized property. So can homes reputed to have a resident ghost. Although they are free of physical defects like leaky roofs or lead paint, such properties can so spook potential buyers that they linger on the market and command less than market value. Or, the discovery of the death can prompt a sudden change of course.

According to the article: "Many buyers are more concerned about square footage than about who is six feet under, especially in Manhattan, where stigma begins to fade away with the arrival of the next day's tabloid. People continue to live at 14 West 10th Street, which, while being the former home of Mark Twain, is also where Joel Steinberg beat to death his illegally adopted daughter, Lisa. (The building is reputedly haunted, to boot.)"

To read the full article- click here.

Some Buyers Regret Not Asking: Anyone Die Here? by Stephanie Rosenbloom

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe and get FREE updates! Appraisal , Real Estate , Appraiser , Marketing, Realtor , Home Inspection