Imagine this: you finally find your dream home, but your real estate agent tells you that a grisly murder occurred there. Does ominous music start playing as you run from the house, or are you sticking around?
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“So, you know there’s definitely this stigma that is out there that, you know these homes are haunted and those are going to be really difficult to sell and nobody’s going to want to buy it,” said Dru Wischhover, founder and owner of Inspired Title Group in an interview this week with WBBM Newsradio’s Rob Hart for the Noon Business Hour. “But realistically, there are people who are excited and interested in that, that, you know, they want to be part of that history or they want have that story to tell about their house.”
Realtor.com noted that many homes where dark crimes occurred eventually are put up for sale and purchased by regular families. One example in the Chicago area is the former home of serial killer John Wayne Gacy – the actual home was torn down and another now stands on the site where he kept his victims’ bodies.
“It has changed hands multiple times since the mid-1980s and even though this is one of the most notorious addresses in the history of crime for the people who live there,” Hart noted. “They probably had very happy memories in this brand-new house that was built on the... location of this notorious crime.”
Some of these homes connected to disturbing incidents do linger on the market and some require price cuts before new owners agree to move in to a “haunted” property. With images from “Poltergeist” and “The Amityville Horror” in their heads, it is inevitable that some prospective buyers will be put off by the idea of potentially sharing their new home with paranormal roommates.
However, as Wischhover noted, other buyers might be intrigued by a creepy connection. Hart mentioned that home where “Poltergeist” was filmed in Simi Valley, Calif., recently sold for more than $1 million.
“Just because the house is haunted or just because something big has happened there, let’s be realistic. Some people, yeah, it may turn some people away, but I think that there’s still a percentage of the population that would be interested in looking at that,” said Wischhover.
A haunting might also be negated by other positives, such as a good school system. With home prices remaining “stubbornly high,” per The Washington Post, some prospective buyers might think a haunted house discount doesn’t sound to bad.
“Haunted or not, every home has its own little story,” said Wischhover. “If yours happens to be a little bit darker, so be it. You just have to disclose that and talk about that. But it doesn’t mean that something good can’t still happen. It doesn't mean that you can’t create your new memories.”