Pennsylvania Homeowner Sues Seller Over Homes Bloody Past

Originally posted by FlyersFan
I thought all the states in this country had disclosure laws about murders in homes that were being sold??

Star and flag because you taught me something I did not know. Like you, I thought that there were such disclosure laws already in place.

reply to post by karen61560


All the houses I've ever lived in have been haunted. I've come to the conclusion that there are ghosts everywhere and that some are just more noticable than others. The house I grew up in was 200 years old .. and many people (including relatives) have died in it.

But a murder/suicide is different. Angry ghosts and perhaps even demonic entities that pushed the murder suicide could easily be in that house. There is NO WAY I'd want any part of a house like that. It would put me and my family at risk.

And yes .. I fully believe that and I'm not alone in having those beliefs.

I agree with #1. I wouldn't want to be ripped off like that. But I personally don't care much about #2. I actually grew up in a house where the previous owner had committed suicide in 1978. When my parents bought the house in 1981 the rope he used to hang himself was still in the basement, as well as the last cigarette he had smoked and stomped out on the floor. Stupid lazy real estate agent didn't even bother to clean any of that up

Anyways, I never experienced any kind of hauntings or ghostly encounters. That aspect doesn't really bother me. I'd even be willing to move into a house where a mass-murder too place if I got it for a low price. Things like that don't bother me if I wasn't around to witness it.

As far as I'm concerned ... a house is a product. You have a right to know everything there is to know about a product before you purchase it. For a seller to withhold information about the product .. information that effects the value of that product ... well, that's bad business.

reply to post by VegHead


Thanks. It was interesting living in the area when this was all going on. The book by Jay Anson was not very accurate especially when talking about the area. He mentioned areas like East Babylon which doesnt exist although a West Babylon does. And a North Babylon which is real but there is no South Babylon.. They mentioned a bar called the Witches Brew which I used to frequent. But streets that do not exist. No wonder people didnt believe if he couldnt even get the geography correct.
When the book came out the traffic on Oak Ave which is not a big street just a little side street was horrendous.

reply to post by HomerinNC


Hey neighbor. Well not really I live in Virginia now. LOL. My sister still lives in Islip. Were you there when this was going on? Plan a friday night trip to Amityville after smoking a dubby or two. Creepy ! No I dont think it was haunted like they said but the Defeo family was murdered in their beds in that house by their son Ronny and thats enough for me. LOL. Murder like that just didnt happen on Long Island back in the 70's. It was a different place then.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
As far as I'm concerned ... a house is a product. You have a right to know everything there is to know about a product before you purchase it. For a seller to withhold information about the product .. information that effects the value of that product ... well, that's bad business.

We live in a land where bad business is everywhere apparently.

I believe the real estate agents should have to disclose any and all information about a house and property's history. It is the only way to be legally honest. Especially if the death was unnatural and /or an illness or crime was committed there.

My husband and I bought a house back in early 1992s. We moved in. It was a huge fixer upper. The neighbor lady came over after we moved in and told us the man who owned it died naked in the living room right where our TV was sitting! She also said it was a week before anyone noticed he was dead and found the body!
I never wanted to sit down and watch TV in that room again... Seriously. We fixed the house up really cute and sold it, basically I changed the Karma of the place. I felt his spirit was satisfied and left.

I was in a house that had seven different types of tile in it, and I passed it over to buy. This was later on in life. We did buy a house near by. Another neighbor became friendly and told us we should be glad we didn't buy the other house because the man was getting a divorce and he hung himself in the back yard committing suicide. At this point I was really irritated with the realtors.

We always bought fixer uppers and they always have negatives events that led them to their demise. Divorce, forclosures, illnesses, death.... The divorces and forclosures really have negative energy and lots of damage.
One guy used a baseball bat and cracked all the windows on the first floor! I have seen people put holes through every door in the house. Someone sold the heat pump/air conditioner for money! I have seen houses where people peed all over the carpets not pets! I have seen houses that looked like they sold drugs out of the house with closets locked up and toliets used as ashtrays... I have walked through hundreds of for sale properties in twenty plus years...

If you are househunting always ask about the home's history and write down what the relator says on your flier sheet of the home... Keep this in your file of houses. If something comes up you have a record of what was said.

I have often wondered what really influences the atmosphere of a home. I walked through and considered purchasing a home that sat on a lot where the previous house caught fire and burned out, killing the elderly occupants within. Despite all of that, the house seemed like a very positive place to be in.

By contrast, the house I currently live in has had only one other family living in it. We still know them and they are happy, prosperous and, if they are telling the truth, had a great time raising their family here. They moved one neighborhood over, to a newer smaller house. But my family and I have had nothing but troubles here.

It is a lovely house on a beautiful street but it is the most unwelcoming place I've ever lived in. I have come to realize the whole street seems affected, particularly down near my end of it. Next door neighbors seemed fine the first few years here but now they have domestic violence problems that require regular police intervention. The family one house over also had domestic issues. The dad would publicly scream at and humiliate the mom. They are gone now. They still own the house but rent it out. It was into their yard that I saw the most evil and large shadow person go, back when I was walking my dog and ran into a smaller one first, then looked up and saw the larger one crossing the street.

The trees in the woods surrounding our little cul de sac are all slowly rotting and dying.

I finally told my husband I don't care if we raised our child here. The creepiness outweighs the memories at this point. I fully intend to move as soon as we are financially able. We have started actively looking around. The odd thing is, my husband can now even feel these "vibes". Some of you who have seen me around the forums might remember I am often complaining what an extreme skeptic and materialistic person he is. But as we have been looking around, he now remarks openly about such things.

I'm rather shocked how many neighborhoods around here do have this same really odd, draining vibe to them. I recently found out from one of my child's science teachers that the region is abnormally above average for lightning strikes. I can believe it, my back yard has experienced several strikes since we've lived here. Most of the neighborhoods were once open farmland. There area saw some action in the War of 1812 but overall, nothing hugely dramatic as in Civil War areas or other places that saw war.

I think at this point I wouldn't rule out living in a property where a death occurred if an atmosphere of peace exists in it currently. Not after living here where nothing particularly bad has happened in generations. But nothing awfully positive, either.

Originally posted by DarknStormyI thought it was mandatory to notify the buyer of deaths or paranormal activity?

Depends on where you live. In California, yes, it is mandatory to disclose of deaths that have occurred on the property within the past five years. I also had a real estate agent friend tell me once, when I said I felt a house was haunted, that I shouldn't say that because then the house has to be condemned. I don't know about elsewhere, but that is the law in California.

Originally posted by jrod
It really should not matter what happened in the past at a house. I am on the seller's side on this one. If the lady was concerned about an issue like this she should have asked around before buying the house. Some people get freaked out over irrelevant things.

It very much does matter what happens in a house's past! When my family and I were living in Southern California, it turns out that the house we had bought, which we weren't told was condemned until after the papers were signed, had been the home of illegal immigrants, including a known kidnapper/rapist/murderer, and a drug den. Luckily, my siblings and I got the two bedrooms in the house, and my parents took the couch bed in the living room, because a year later, the police came and pounded on the door, threatening to knock it down in the middle of the night, to arrest the guy because they finally had the evidence and warrant against him. Unfortunately, he had run off before the house had even been sold to us, and he wasn't found until 20 years later, having run back to Mexico.

However, this demonstrates that, yes, the history of a house does need to be disclosed to new buyers because of possible legal ramifications, like the police threatening to bust down your door in the middle of the night because it's the last known address of a vicious criminal, or because there might still be evidence on the property (there was a lot of drug paraphernalia in the cupboards and the ground, as well) that might be needed for a case.

Note that there were several people killed in the house I lived in, and those people's souls were still there, and bugged me all the time. It wasn't until I learned the prayers to protect myself and to help them that they finally left me alone.

I work as a real estate agent in California, and yes in California you have to disclose the fact if there was a death on the property that occurred in the last 3-5 years. And yes it's hard to sell a home especially after a death on the property, but some people seem to don't mind. My advice if you're worried about stuff like think about buying a newer home, less chance of deaths on the property. Through the course of hundreds of years, there probably been deaths everywhere.

We are starting to look at retirement property in New Hampshire. It occurred to me that I already know the extent of the spooks in the house we are in now. I could be trading houses into something that is really much worse than what we have here. I can live with what's here .... but who knows what we could be getting up there.

originally posted by: FlyersFan
We are starting to look at retirement property in New Hampshire. It occurred to me that I already know the extent of the spooks in the house we are in now. I could be trading houses into something that is really much worse than what we have here. I can live with what's here .... but who knows what we could be getting up there.

Best advice from a real estate agent standpoint. Is to ask before you buy, they aren't obligated to tell you because of other state laws, but if you ask they pretty much have to tell you the truth. If they say, No. Then later you catch them finding out that they knew, there been deaths etc on the property, then you might have a right to sue them/file a compliant to the real estate board commission. Basically, real estate agents, have a obligation to be truthful to both sides of the parties buyer and seller. Now if they real estate or previous owners truly didn't know, and told you they didn't know. There isn't much you can do about that. Just like any business dealings, try to get everything down on paper and contracts. That's the best advice I can give you about that subject.

On the other hand if you want to know about the previous history of the house before you buy it, I recommend going the old fashion way of hitting up city halls records/permits. Checking out old library records and microfilm, even doing a simple google search on the address to see if it pops up with anything. There is a website I been hearing about from folks that helps do all the searching for you and gives you a report on if there been any deaths etc around the house or area. For a small fee of course.

www.diedinhouse.com...

Well I know up here in the Great White North (Canada) That murders, suicides, high infectious or contagious diseases. If the house is on toxic land, or toxic water. As well as possible paranormal happenings. MUST be disclosed before the sale of a home. Failure to do so can result in the sale being null and void.

Not sure how it is in other parts of the world. My mother has been in Real Estate for many years, and has run her own agency for about as long. So quite familiar with the rules up here. She has lost a few sales due to possible "haunting's" that she had to disclose.

I wish the home owner luck though, even if it is not something that legally has to be disclosed. It is something as a buyer I would certainly want to know.

If I were buying a house to be a home the past is of little importance to me. If I were buying a house as an investment then the past would be of great importance to me. Mainly because my first point isn't shared by everyone and as others have shared already, personal beliefs can play a big role.

If there are specific things you are concerned about when buying property than make sure to do everything you can to address them. If there isn't a specific law requiring disclosure of such an event than it comes down to personal responsibility of the home buyer.

a reply to: onequestion
*laughs* I had the same thought. As a native Pennsylvanian, I can't figure out, except maybe philly, why a house would be 600k.