seller disclosure of crime history in house

[pitterwoo]

Oh that's interesting. It's something I never even thought of though. I know someone in PA whose getting ready to sell and would be in this situation. I guess it's good for her that she wouldn't have to disclose.

[moolarkey]

We've been in our current house about 10 years now. We loved it, originally had wanted to build this model but bought a big (32') power boat instead. Then it came up for sale, we looked at it again and just felt we needed to wait a little longer before buying a more expensive house than we were in. A couple months later I drove by and and auction sign was in the yard. I told H and we decided to bid.

We went to the auction and while I was standing in the kitchen a neighbor who had come to watch the auction asked me if I knew the history of the house. I told her I knew it had been damaged in a fire. She filled me in on the rest. The man in the couple that had owned it tried to kill his wife. She said the couple had 2 little kids, like 4 and 6. They would have arguments and the neighbors would see these little kids standing outside while they could hear the yelling and this often went on when it was cold outside.

We have a 2 story center-hall house. From the right end is the living room, stairs, hallway to kitchen, office, garage (thats the front left to right). When you step in the front door there is a big entry way and directly ahead you either go down the hall way or up the stairs. At the top of the stairs is a big landing area.

The tiny wife (probably a size zero) walked in and her doctor husband was upon the landing. He threw gasoline down on her and threw a lit candle at her. It burnt the front of the house. I don't know who called the fire department but this neighbor said the fire department knocked on her door and asked her for something to cover this woman in (she was burnt but not badly which is amazing). My neighbor wears a 2 and it swam on this woman.

He was found guilty of 4 charges of attempted murder. His wife, the 2 little kids, and she was pregnant with another baby.
He was deported back to China. Since they were Chinese citizens and married there, she left the kids with friends here and went back to China and divorced him. She's been back here now for about 8-10 years.

So the realtor had told us it had been damaged in a fire but not about the attempted murder. I am sure it was our neighbor that filled that in for us.

What our neighbors didn't know is that while most of our house is on a full basement, the family roomi s over a large crawl space. This crawl space has lights and eletrical outlets, in no drywall though. When we moved in my H crawled in there becuase we could see a bunch of stuff at the other end. What he found was shot up telelphone books. The crazy doctor that owned the house had used the crawl space as a target range. Boy were all the neighbors surprised to hear that! We were at a cul de sac cook out and asked everyone if they'd been to the target range... they asked "What target range" - the one in our basement! Their mouths dropped opeen as we told them what we'd found. The entrance to the crawl space has bi-fold shutter'style doors. It's about 5 feet above the floor of the rest of the basement. We think he stood at the opening and fired.

People have asked my how my neighbor didn't realize the house was on fire to the fireman knocked on her door. We were in our family room when this same neighbor called an ambulance (on more than one occasion) and we didn't hear it. We didn't know a thing for several days. If we're in the right parts of our house, we don't hear anything outside and I'm guessing her house is the same way.

So I don't know the Ohio laws on this but I'd guess they don't have to disclose crime.

[simoncraig]

"Sometimes a crime is so notorious it determines the future of a house"

[moolarkey]

Jan 29, 2013 12:39:05 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

Can I ask what area of Ohio? I think I remember you being near Susan B? I'm north of her.

Sorry - just saw your message.  We're in Central Ohio. 

Just looked at SusanB to see where she's at.  Not sure which "village" but I'm NW of German Village, Victorian Village and the "Tri-village" area of UA/Grandview/Marblecliff. I'm along the West side of the Scioto too.

[Deleted]

Feb 9, 2013 8:45:02 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

Jan 29, 2013 12:39:05 GMT -5 @callmefia said:

Can I ask what area of Ohio? I think I remember you being near Susan B? I'm north of her.

Sorry - just saw your message.  We're in Central Ohio. 

Just looked at SusanB to see where she's at.  Not sure which "village" but I'm NW of German Village, Victorian Village and the "Tri-village" area of UA/Grandview/Marblecliff. I'm along the West side of the Scioto too.

This is an older post, but I just wanted to say hello to fellow Columbus gals! We live in NW Columbus. I probably live pretty close to you,but we're on the East side of the Scioto. When I post, I usually post on MM or TTTC. :-)

[moolarkey]

I hop between boards a lot. I live on the West side, between Davidson Rd and Cemetery Rd.