Photo credit: Photo by Howard Schnapp
The real estate world watched with curiosity as the home of convicted serial killer Joel Rifkin sold in Meadow, New York, just about a year after it went on the market. The home is said to be the site where Rifkin murdered some of his victims, a home that Rifkin shared with his parents. The new buyer: a school teacher and her family, who are raising four children. Said the new buyer, identified only as “Tracy”, in an interview with Newsday: “A house is a house. People die all the time in houses. We’re bringing all positive vibes”.
“Killer Real Estate” Sells in New York – Would You Be So Brave?
But what if you don’t feel comfortable living in a home like this one? Viewers of FX’s American Horror Story might worry that the home would have negative energy and those who believe in ghouls and goblins may fear that a ghost or two is hanging nearby. Some just don’t want the stigma that is attached to living in a home where bad things have happened, or in the case of Rifkin’s home, terrible and unnatural deaths.
Some buyers might also be uncomfortable of buying a home where someone died period, whether from natural causes, suicide, disease or accident. So how do you know, and are the former owners or your realtor required to reveal the house’s tainted history?
If you live in a state that has formal disclosure laws, then the seller of the home or their agent are not required by law to reveal that a death occurred in a home, unless you ask. Some states have laws that require that it only needs to be revealed if the death was in recent times, like within five years, and in some states, only if it occurred within the past year. For instance, in California, sellers and their agent must reveal a murder that occurred within the previous three years. Most disclosure laws focus on material or structural defects to a home, not the stigma that can follow a property where a death took place.
A study by Joseph W. Coleman and James E. Larsen, professors at Wright State University, found that these so-called psychologically-impacted homes take up to five percent longer to sell and bring about three percent less than the home would have brought if the death/murder/event had not occurred on the premises. Thus, the reason that some agents are hesitant to reveal such information about a property! Nonetheless, homebuyers can be proactive if they are really concerned about ending up with a property that comes with a questionable history. The best and most simple way is to ask the agent.
It’s pretty much a given that nearly any agent will reveal the information, provided that they know it. The agent is there to find you a home that you like, not one that you’re not going to ultimately feel comfortable with. 99.9% of real estate agents will reveal the truth about the property, especially if prompted by your questioning. If you want to be doubly sure that the real estate agent isn’t holding out any information from you, you can always ask neighbors, check public records, or even “google” the property to see if any articles come up for that particular address.
This news article was provided by Vickie Nagy a Danville California Realtor who also specializes in homes for sale in San Ramon, CA. If you’re interested in buying a home where a killer didn’t live, please head on over to Vickie’s Dublin California real estate website to search homes.