would a recent suicide in a house deter you?

[scooter028]

We found our dream house finally. It's two years old and after looking found out it's for sale because the previous owner committed suicide a few months ago in the garage. The estate doesn't seem to be willing to negotiate at all despite the other houses on the street having builder upgrades and larger bedrooms. I think she's not seeing that there are no upgrades in this house. I just wonder if other buyers would be turned off by the circumstances of the house. Is this something that should benefit us in negotiating a price?

[pitterwoo]

I don't think a recent or old suicide in a house would deter me unless I had to actually see any evidence in the house of it. I would likely be put off if it was a murder or murder-suicide.

Sounds like the condition of the house itself is a negotiating point.

[my4girls]

yes it would deter me for sure.

[countthestars]

ditto pitterbull.

[pamela]

Yes, I would consider the house, but it should be priced lower because it will deter tons of people. We actually looked at one that was a murder-suicide, but the husband was a contractor doing a bunch of DIY renovations and everything was left in a half-done state which we weren't ready to take on. It was priced ridicuously low and the realtor at the open house did let us know the circumstances because she could tell we were new to the area and didn't know it's history. Didn't bother us, but we don't believe in ghosts, karma, energies or anything like that.

[emjacobs]

Deter me? Not unless there were blood stains / obvious signs relating to the suicide.

Deter someone else? Possibly.

Since it was in the garage I would assume that it was a carbon monoxide suicide, but you might ask about it because if there was blood involved if it wasn't properly cleaned heat can bring the soaked in blood back to the surface of the concrete.

[auntie]

Frankly, I wouldn't relish the idea of being a in garage where I knew someone killed themselves. It would make me feel sad more than creeped out. DH has a coworker whose son killed himself running a car in the garage.

I don't know that this gives you a leg up in the negotiations though. If the house remains on the market long term, that would be a bargaining point rather than the unhappy history of the house.

DH and I swear our neighbors house has bad karma. First owner lost her adult child to cancer, second owners split up after 20 years and their oldest killed herself, 3rd owners split after 3 years.

[mrs.jacinthe]

I would not be deterred by the suicide. But in this case, I would be SERIOUSLY deterred by the owner's unwillingness to negotiate. A lot of people would be uncomfortable buying a house like that and you don't want to alienate your remaining market by overpricing.

I'd also consider, even though it does not bother me, that the house's value has dropped significantly by what will have to be in the disclosures. Your resale value WILL be affected.

[thewop]

Jan 15, 2013 12:13:54 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I wouldn't like it.

Call me a hippie, but I wouldn't want to live with that kind of energy around me - particularly if it was recent.

Exactly this.

[Deleted]

No, not unless there was still visible evidence and if that's the case the house shouldn't be up for sale until that's taken care of. It's a sad thought but that wouldn't deter me from buying. I don't believe in ghosts, the boogieman, bad energy, etc.

[sailorgray]

Jan 15, 2013 12:13:54 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I wouldn't like it.

Call me a hippie, but I wouldn't want to live with that kind of energy around me - particularly if it was recent.

This is me. I would like to say it wouldn't bother me, but I think it would. I would worry about resale, too, unless you were planning on staying forever. Also, is it known as the house where so-and-so killed himself? I would hate for my home to have the rep.

[pickle123]

Bad omen. No way I'd take the house.

[rachelgreen]

Jan 15, 2013 12:17:37 GMT -5 thewop said:

Jan 15, 2013 12:13:54 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I wouldn't like it.

Call me a hippie, but I wouldn't want to live with that kind of energy around me - particularly if it was recent.

Exactly this.

I think I'm sitting here on this too.

I'd like to think that it wouldn't bother me but...I'm not 100% sure it wouldn't. I'm not big on supernatureal things but every weird sound would probably make me jump - EVEN if I knew this was 1) stupid and 2) normal house sounds. Maybe I'm just a wimp

I think the lack of budging the sellers want to do on price would be an even bigger turn off. If they want to win someone over like me, they better be willing to negotiate!

[scooter028]

I'm very turned off by the lack of negotiations but it has been on the market for only seven days. Maybe it will sit for a while and we'll have more leverage. I'm really hoping the incident there turns most potential buyers off. By the way, I'm told it was carbon monoxide in the garage and that my state recently changed the law and that it will not have to be disclosed to future buyers. I guess I give them credit for being forthcoming. There are still little hanging notes and flowers to the guy in the backyard so I suppose that would have raised some questions.

[ktzmoh]

It would deter me for sure. Bad juju !

[pitterwoo]

Jan 15, 2013 12:13:54 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I wouldn't like it.

Call me a hippie, but I wouldn't want to live with that kind of energy around me - particularly if it was recent.

Does it being recent bother you because other people would know that it was the house where someone died? I was just wondering, because in terms of if it had a ghost or bad energy or something I don't see how being recent matters. I hear there isn't a sense of time in the spirit world. I mean, think about how many civil war soldiers are still haunting places.

Sorry to anyone who gets the creeps about this stuff!

[Deleted]

If everything else was what I wanted, I'd go for it unless I got a bad gut feeling.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Jan 15, 2013 12:13:54 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I wouldn't like it.

Call me a hippie, but I wouldn't want to live with that kind of energy around me - particularly if it was recent.

This, but I'd also go on gut feeling.

My house is almost 100 years old so they likelihood someone died here is high. (I know for a fact several children were born in the house too.)

DD1s room gives me an awful bad vibe. It could be that I spent so much time there in the dark nursing her, but I hate her room. Creep city.

It was the room was that covered in crayon and marker graffiti. Drug references, sex comments, angst and general stupid teenage stuff. Maybe that's why I hate the room so much? It was clearly the room of a very unhappy teenager who wasn't being parented well IMO.

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2013 12:13:54 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

I wouldn't like it.

Call me a hippie, but I wouldn't want to live with that kind of energy around me - particularly if it was recent.

I couldn't agree more. What if the person is still "stuck" and not able to move on to the next world/heaven/afterlife and you start seeing ghosts and crazy shit starts happening like cupboards opening up for no reason or the water turning on.... no way! Move on, you would find another dream house.

[statlerwaldorf]

It wouldn't deter me.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Jan 15, 2013 23:17:02 GMT -5 @crackhabit said:

Bunny, have you tried a smudge stick on that room to cleanse the energy?

I never did, but my SIL and brother brought back an "all-seeing-eye" thing from their honeymoon in Greece. I hung it in there. I usually don't believe in that stuff AT ALL but I swear it helped. (Well, I also stopped spending so much time in the middle of the night in her room too.)

[housegeek]

I couldn't. Too much negative energy.

[mrslch]

I'm curious as to whether those of you who are creeped out would buy a house where someone died of natural causes or an accident or if it's just because this was a suicide?

[housegeek]

Jan 16, 2013 12:34:08 GMT -5 mrslch said:

I'm curious as to whether those of you who are creeped out would buy a house where someone died of natural causes or an accident or if it's just because this was a suicide?

Natural causes doesn't have negative energy to me. Violent accident or suicides do. Non violent accidents depend, I think.

[bunnymendelbaum]

Jan 16, 2013 12:34:08 GMT -5 mrslch said:

I'm curious as to whether those of you who are creeped out would buy a house where someone died of natural causes or an accident or if it's just because this was a suicide?

I think the suicide is the worst. Natural causes, meh. Accident would  depend.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2013 12:34:08 GMT -5 mrslch said:

I'm curious as to whether those of you who are creeped out would buy a house where someone died of natural causes or an accident or if it's just because this was a suicide?

Suicides are negative energy. I bought a place once where the woman had died from cancer but did not die in the home. I was still a bit paranoid wondering if there was something environmental in the house that attributed to the cancer. But it was weird and sad to look at the house and see her photos all over and know that she was no longer alive. 

[amblor]

Jan 16, 2013 15:14:22 GMT -5 bunnymendelbaum said:

Jan 16, 2013 12:34:08 GMT -5 mrslch said:

I'm curious as to whether those of you who are creeped out would buy a house where someone died of natural causes or an accident or if it's just because this was a suicide?

I think the suicide is the worst. Natural causes, meh. Accident would  depend.

I agree with this 100%. Violent deaths are totally different to me than natural causes. We have a 1930's house so I'm sure someone has died here at one point or another.

[sailorgray]

Jan 16, 2013 15:53:50 GMT -5 @switzerland said:

Jan 16, 2013 12:34:08 GMT -5 mrslch said:

I'm curious as to whether those of you who are creeped out would buy a house where someone died of natural causes or an accident or if it's just because this was a suicide?

Suicides are negative energy. I bought a place once where the woman had died from cancer but did not die in the home. I was still a bit paranoid wondering if there was something environmental in the house that attributed to the cancer. But it was weird and sad to look at the house and see her photos all over and know that she was no longer alive. 

Natural death would not deter me. I grew up in a farmhouse from the 1850's. Who knows what happened there (yea, we think it's haunted with good spirits). The woman who used to live in our current home died from cancer at a young age.  I sometimes sense something, but it's nothing bad and may be my imagination. I am not sure if she died here or not. We still get her mail, though, and we've lived here almost 5 years. I get sad when I see it, esp. when it's from life insurance places. 

[pitterwoo]

Jan 17, 2013 11:09:06 GMT -5 sailorgray said:

Jan 16, 2013 15:53:50 GMT -5 @switzerland said:

Suicides are negative energy. I bought a place once where the woman had died from cancer but did not die in the home. I was still a bit paranoid wondering if there was something environmental in the house that attributed to the cancer. But it was weird and sad to look at the house and see her photos all over and know that she was no longer alive. 

Natural death would not deter me. I grew up in a farmhouse from the 1850's. Who knows what happened there (yea, we think it's haunted with good spirits). The woman who used to live in our current home died from cancer at a young age.  I sometimes sense something, but it's nothing bad and may be my imagination. I am not sure if she died here or not. We still get her mail, though, and we've lived here almost 5 years. I get sad when I see it, esp. when it's from life insurance places. 

Oh no, you don't have to deal with receiving mail for a deceased person.  There is a do not contact registry you can add her name to.  I've used it for a couple relatives.  Do Not Mail

[pitterwoo]

also, you can just write on the piece of mail "DECEASED: remove from mailing list" and return to sender.