Buying a house someone was murdered in

Breezer

I'm a first time buyer, and I've recently found a wonderful house that I was all set to put on offer on. Getting all excited about this, I went and googled the address, and discovered someone was violently murdered in a house on the road several decades ago. The house number isn't specified, but there's only a couple of houses on this road, so there's a reasonable chance this was the one it happened in.

While it's a fairly upsetting thought, I don't believe in ghosts etc. But other people do, and what I am worried about is resale value! Would this be something that would put people off, do you think?

Yes, this is serious question!

cronos

Breezer wrote: »

I'm a first time buyer, and I've recently found a wonderful house that I was all set to put on offer on. Getting all excited about this, I went and googled the address, and discovered someone was violently murdered in a house on the road several decades ago. The house number isn't specified, but there's only a couple of houses on this road, so there's a reasonable chance this was the one it happened in.

While it's a fairly upsetting thought, I don't believe in ghosts etc. But other people do, and what I am worried about is resale value! Would this be something that would put people off, do you think?

Yes, this is serious question!

I think you could use the "right to be forgotten" EU ruling to submit all relevant links to get them removed from search engines. That would make it go away as a problem. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_data_protection_en.pdf

Jimmy Garlic

Don't bother with it. You mightn't have a problem with it but chances are someone in your family will. I might come across as silly for saying this but I think buildings are like batteries, they store the energy that is put into them. Most people don't believe in ghosts until they actually see one.

Edups

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Don't bother with it. You mightn't have a problem with it but chances are someone in your family will. I might come across as silly for saying this but I think buildings are like batteries, they store the energy that is put into them. Most people don't believe in ghosts until they actually see one.

Please stop spouting superstition. It's absolute nonsense with no scientific evidence to back it up. He's buying a house, not a pack of Duracell

pablo128

Breezer wrote: »

I'm a first time buyer, and I've recently found a wonderful house that I was all set to put on offer on. Getting all excited about this, I went and googled the address, and discovered someone was violently murdered in a house on the road several decades ago. The house number isn't specified, but there's only a couple of houses on this road, so there's a reasonable chance this was the one it happened in.

While it's a fairly upsetting thought, I don't believe in ghosts etc. But other people do, and what I am worried about is resale value! Would this be something that would put people off, do you think?

Yes, this is serious question!

Unless you're buying the house at a reduced rate now, how would the house be worth less in the future?

Breezer

pablo128 wrote: »

Unless you're buying the house at a reduced rate now, how would the house be worth less in the future?

Makes sense. Just something that crossed my mind. Probably the result of small hour Googling.
Although the sale did previously fall though. Unlikely to be anything to do with it I guess.

Edups

Breezer wrote: »

Makes sense. Just something that crossed my mind. Probably the result of small hour Googling.
Although the sale did previously fall though. Unlikely to be anything to do with it I guess.

There must be houses sold daily that have had someone die in them murder or otherwise. Ffs my auntie died in my nannys house, I hardly think if it was mentioned to a prospective buyer they'd pull out because spoopy ghosts will get us

Breezer

Edups wrote: »

There must be houses sold daily that have had someone die in them murder or otherwise. Ffs my auntie died in my nannys house, I hardly think if it was mentioned to a prospective buyer they'd pull out because spoopy ghosts will get us

Oh I know, it was more the circumstances. And clearly it wouldn't bother me or you, but I tend to be far less superstitious than the average person (as in I'm not, at all) which is why I thought I'd put the question out there!

Car99

It might not be that house .

DivingDuck

Did you try searching the murderer and victim's names separately? There's a decent chance the house it happened in belonged to one of them. Their addresses should be listed in the reporting/obit, and might at least clear up if it's even the same house or not.

How long have the current owners been living there?

I don't know if it would put me off, really. Given the choice between a house where a murder happened and another house all equal otherwise, I'd probably pick the one without the bad history. The market in Dublin is more "this house or no house" these days, though, so you'll still get people wanting it regardless if that's where it is.

Edups

Breezer wrote: »

Oh I know, it was more the circumstances. And clearly it wouldn't bother me or you, but I tend to be far less superstitious than the average person (as in I'm not, at all) which is why I thought I'd put the question out there!

It's okay OP, just keep the doors locked tightly and keep the bat in easy reach, you'll probably not be killed

spurious

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest if the price was right.

hairyslug

Wouldn't bother me, we went to look at a house where someone had been murdered and I had to drag my wife along but she liked the house enough to overcome the thought of someone being murdered there. She didn't however have any issues going to executor sales.

anewme

I bought a house before that an old lady died in.

Months after we moved in, we found Rosary Beads in one of the rooms. We sent them on to her family.

We knew that moving in and it was no problem. The lady died of natural causes related to old age.

Despite not being superstitious, I would not buy a house where someone was murdered. It's not because I'm afraid of ghosts, because I'm not, I don't believe in it but I think it's more my own mindset.

I get what the person is saying about negative energy, although that is very much in your own head- I would find it hard to be happy in a place where so much unhappiness occurred.

For example, any of those homes where murder-suicides took place of whole families, whatever the price is, no.

id hate to be going to bed to relax, but thinking, did a little child die horribly here, in this room?

As I said, the ghost stuff is nonsense, but it's not about that.

Edups

Edups wrote: »

There must be houses sold daily that have had someone die in them murder or otherwise. Ffs my auntie died in my nannys house, I hardly think if it was mentioned to a prospective buyer they'd pull out because spoopy ghosts will get us

Slight difference between a natural death from old age and murder .....just slight :rolleyes:


It would put me off .....but hey that's just me !

Breezer

DivingDuck wrote: »

Did you try searching the murderer and victim's names separately? There's a decent chance the house it happened in belonged to one of them. Their addresses should be listed in the reporting/obit, and might at least clear up if it's even the same house or not.

I did, yeah. Nothing coming up, just the road name, no number. I wondered was that deliberate.

I don't know exactly how long the current owners have been there, I must find out, I think it may have been just slightly less than the time elapsed since the murder though.

Anyway, enough people here saying it wouldn't matter to them to put my mind at ease. I know it's unsettling, but it was many years ago, and people have lived there happily since. And at the end of the day, with old houses, who knows what happened in them that went unreported.

Baybay

I posted in a similar thread a while back.

A murderer stole a means of transport from outside the house in which we've lived for over twenty years but didn't own at the time, to move a body. Not quite the same thing I know. It doesn't bother me but I do think of it from time to time.

lau1247

Breezer wrote: »

I did, yeah. Nothing coming up, just the road name, no number. I wondered was that deliberate.

I don't know exactly how long the current owners have been there, I must find out, I think it may have been just slightly less than the time elapsed since the murder though.

Anyway, enough people here saying it wouldn't matter to them to put my mind at ease. I know it's unsettling, but it was many years ago, and people have lived there happily since. And at the end of the day, with old houses, who knows what happened in them that went unreported.

can you not ask the estate agent directly?? Aren't they obliged to disclosure any information relevant to the property.. akin to don't ask don't tell but ask and they have to answer.

Breezer

lau1247 wrote: »

can you not ask the estate agent directly?? Aren't they obliged to disclosure any information relevant to the property.. akin to don't ask don't tell but ask and they have to answer.

I think I'd rather not know to be honest!

Parchment

lau1247 wrote: »

can you not ask the estate agent directly?? Aren't they obliged to disclosure any information relevant to the property.. akin to don't ask don't tell but ask and they have to answer.

This! Ask them - say you googled the address and want to know.

Personally i dont think i would buy a house that someone was murdered in. For me it would have a "negative energy" - some people might laugh but i do think houses have a vibe.

We are looking to buy a house and have viewed many - pretty much all of them have had their own "feeling". Some of the oldest/most in need of renovations still had a happy feel.

Thats just me and my slightly hippy notions! If it doesnt bother you and its a good price - go for it.

Eric Cartman

wouldn't bother me in the slightest, but you can damn well bet i'd pretend it did to get the price knocked down, after that though, be grand.

GT_TDI_150

Buy it!!

Be a cool topic to drop at dinner parties.

Eric Cartman

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

Buy it!!

Be a cool topic to drop at dinner parties.

also keeps superstitious crackpot's (hopefully including overly religious mother in laws :pac:) out of it.

SEPT 23 1989

No

bad vibrations

You would not have posted if it sat comfortably with you

Edups

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Slight difference between a natural death from old age and murder .....just slight :rolleyes:


It would put me off .....but hey that's just me !

She wasn't old.

anewme

Breezer wrote: »

I think I'd rather not know to be honest!

Then don't buy it. You will find out eventually from a nosey neighbour or something and it will wreck your head

Effects

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

I think buildings are like batteries, they store the energy that is put into them. Most people don't believe in ghosts until they actually see one.

That shouldn't be a problem so. A murder takes place relatively quickly so shouldn't have effected the positive charge on the house that much, if at all.

People don't see ghosts. Stupid people just think they've seen ghosts.

Heisenberg1

Effects wrote: »

That shouldn't be a problem so. A murder takes place relatively quickly so shouldn't have effected the positive charge on the house that much, if at all.

People don't see ghosts. Stupid people just think they've seen ghosts.

Don't want to get off topic but that is complete nonsense. OP I wouldn't buy I do believe in the afterlife and I would not buy it.

Pat Mustard

Murders can affect the value of property in an entire area.

If I was buying a house in which a person had been murdered, I would attempt to negotiate a favourable price. It should also be borne in mind that if you attempt to sell that house, the resale value may be affected. But what does it matter, if you have made the saving when you bought the house, originally.

If you find any evidence of ghosts in the house, you can sell it to the Discovery Channel and make a few quid out of it. Good luck finding the ghosts in the first place, of course.

Jimmy Garlic

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

. Most people don't believe in ghosts until they actually see one.

pesky camera avoiding ghosts

Sleeper12

cronos wrote:

I think you could use the "right to be forgotten" EU ruling to submit all relevant links to get them removed from search engines. That would make it go away as a problem.

I think this is for people rather than addresses. I think the story has to be about you for you to request it. Also if none of the articles give the house number you'd have no grounds to request this. AFAIK

pc7

I personally wouldn't buy it, just wouldn't sit right with me. Also would worry it would affect any future selling price.
There is a house in my area I always adored and said one day I'd buy it if I ever could as was my dream home/area.
Person who owns it has since be found guilty and convicted of rape. If it went on the market tomorrow now I wouldn't buy it. Bad vibes or whatever you'd like to call it but it will be forever know as 'the rapists house' now so I wouldn't buy it, same with murder.

mkhall

Breezer wrote: »

I'm a first time buyer, and I've recently found a wonderful house that I was all set to put on offer on. Getting all excited about this, I went and googled the address, and discovered someone was violently murdered in a house on the road several decades ago. The house number isn't specified, but there's only a couple of houses on this road, so there's a reasonable chance this was the one it happened in.

While it's a fairly upsetting thought, I don't believe in ghosts etc. But other people do, and what I am worried about is resale value! Would this be something that would put people off, do you think?

Yes, this is serious question!

This happened to me, except it was in a house I was renting and I had already lived there for two years. I would have been absolutely creeped out had I known beforehand and would never have moved in. Wondering..where and what happened in the room I'm sitting in..etc but after I found out I didn't care, I'd lived there for so long already and knew there was nothing strange. You would have more of a chance of "a haunted" house if you bought an old farmhouse or something.

If anyone's interested it's this story here
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/trial-told-woman-in-ditch-was-strangled-1.1112313

A lovely taxi man told me this story when he dropped me off at my house at 2am, when my housemate was away for the week! I don't think it's clear where she was murdered but just knowing I was living in the same house was weird at first. I'd actually completely forgotten about this until I read this also!

mirrorwall14

Would you not just go into the local pub and ask? Someone will talk!

Skommando

I wouldn't. Nothing to do with superstition. And the house will never be worth as much as a house with a clean history.

Do you really want to explain to young kids that they are sleeping and growing up in the house where someone raped, bludgeoned and tortured a woman to death because you thought it was a bargain ?

Do you really want to make love to your wife in that room ? Would she ? Bizarre that you would.

April 73

I'm not religious and I don't consider myself to be superstitious, but I wouldn't buy a house someone was murdered in.

Having said I'm not superstitious - when we were house-hunting two years ago I did feel some houses had a happier feeling than others.

One particular house had a really negative feeling & despite looking on paper to be what we wanted, I didn't spend more than 5 minutes viewing it because of the vibe. I found out later it was a bank sale - I think the upset & negativity & worry of the previous owners was still there.

As I said - I'm not superstitious though ;-)

Ayuntamiento

mkhall wrote: »

This happened to me, except it was in a house I was renting and I had already lived there for two years. I would have been absolutely creeped out had I known beforehand and would never have moved in. Wondering..where and what happened in the room I'm sitting in..etc but after I found out I didn't care, I'd lived there for so long already and knew there was nothing strange. You would have more of a chance of "a haunted" house if you bought an old farmhouse or something.

If anyone's interested it's this story here
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/trial-told-woman-in-ditch-was-strangled-1.1112313

A lovely taxi man told me this story when he dropped me off at my house at 2am, when my housemate was away for the week! I don't think it's clear where she was murdered but just knowing I was living in the same house was weird at first. I'd actually completely forgotten about this until I read this also!

Just reading that story makes me feel so sad. If I lived in the place that it happened, I know that I'd think about that woman everyday. I just wouldn't be able to get it out of my head.

Nothing to do with ghosts, etc. That's just the type of person I am. So I'll vote against you buying the murder house.

BettePorter

I don't think i'd have a problem with a murder house tbh. But a house in which a suicide took place would freak me out more for some reason and there's a lot more of them in Ireland than murder ones sadly.

Skommando

Skommando wrote: »

I wouldn't. Nothing to do with superstition. And the house will never be worth as much as a house with a clean history.

Do you really want to explain to young kids that they are sleeping and growing up in the house where someone raped, bludgeoned and tortured a woman to death because you thought it was a bargain ?

Do you really want to make love to your wife in that room ? Would she ? Bizarre that you would.

Yeah, not a believer in that stuff either but I wouldn't buy a house all the that went on in either. You could be living there for 40 or 50 years. I know a house like this too. Priced under market value and great location. Nobody touching it.

mkhall

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

Just reading that story makes me feel so sad. If I lived in the place that it happened, I know that I'd think about that woman everyday. I just wouldn't be able to get it out of my head.

Nothing to do with ghosts, etc. That's just the type of person I am. So I'll vote against you buying the murder house.

I had actually found out landlord was selling the house not long after and moved. It did consume me for a week but I couldn't let my mind go there. Neighbors tried convincing me it was thought to have happened in the car, maybe to comfort themselves.

Lantus

Sounds like a great opportunity. When society starts to outgrow superstition and myth will your purchase be seen as wisdom?

People die in houses all the time. Age, disease, misadventure and sometimes acts of violence or stupidity.

And these same things happen on the streets, in offices and all over the city, country and planet. Are you going to boycott everywhere something bad has happened?

Ayuntamiento

Lantus wrote: »

Sounds like a great opportunity. When society starts to outgrow superstition and myth will your purchase be seen as wisdom?

People die in houses all the time. Age, disease, misadventure and sometimes acts of violence or stupidity.

And these same things happen on the streets, in offices and all over the city, country and planet. Are you going to boycott everywhere something bad has happened?

I don't think any of us will outgrow being empathetic and emotionally motivated beings.

Ultimately I don't believe that I'd be bumping into ghosts in the hallway. However, I know that I wouldn't be able to shake a feeling of unease about the house. It would be like a constant reminder of the type of evil that exists in the world.

I frequently walk past a place where a young child was killed in a hit and run. I think about her poor parents every single time. I'm not even religious but I find myself hoping she's at peace somewhere else.

Charles Babbage

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Murders can affect the value of property in an entire area.

If I was buying a house in which a person had been murdered, I would attempt to negotiate a favourable price. It should also be borne in mind that if you attempt to sell that house, the resale value may be affected. But what does it matter, if you have made the saving when you bought the house, originally.

This. make sure that everyone else buying the house knows about the murder, and negotiate a discount.

realdanbreen

Breezer wrote: »

I'm a first time buyer, and I've recently found a wonderful house that I was all set to put on offer on. Getting all excited about this, I went and googled the address, and discovered someone was violently murdered in a house on the road several decades ago. The house number isn't specified, but there's only a couple of houses on this road, so there's a reasonable chance this was the one it happened in.

While it's a fairly upsetting thought, I don't believe in ghosts etc. But other people do, and what I am worried about is resale value! Would this be something that would put people off, do you think?

Yes, this is serious question!

I wouldn't worry too much.
<mod snip>

DivingDuck

lau1247 wrote: »

can you not ask the estate agent directly?? Aren't they obliged to disclosure any information relevant to the property.. akin to don't ask don't tell but ask and they have to answer.

Breezer wrote: »

I did, yeah. Nothing coming up, just the road name, no number. I wondered was that deliberate.

I don't know exactly how long the current owners have been there, I must find out, I think it may have been just slightly less than the time elapsed since the murder though.

I did a bit of digging myself, and can't find out any more either, unfortunately. As someone else suggested, someone at the local pub might have more info.

The agent can only tell you what they know; if they don't know something, they can hardly disclose it. If the current owners bought the house after the murder, they can always claim they knew nothing about it, and may not have mentioned it to the agent.

Then again, if they've had the house for over a decade, there probably isn't anything creepy about it. I'm always wary of a property being sold very quickly after purchase, and while I might buy a murder house, I would definitely not buy a murder house the previous owners only had for five minutes. Maybe I'm being silly, but that sounds warning bells for me.

athtrasna

Mod note

If you have an issue with a post please use the report post button, and leave the moderation to the mods please. Report, don't retort. Thanks

Breezer

TOMP wrote: »

OP, was it an adult or a child that was murdered? Bad karma either way

An adult.

I unearthed an old Thom's directory. It is the house.

This thread is giving me a lot of pause for thought as regards resale value, and if I'm honest yes, it's a weird feeling. I'll think about it.

Keep the opinions coming folks, this is helpful.

pablo128

Breezer wrote: »

An adult.

I unearthed an old Thom's directory. It is the house.

This thread is giving me a lot of pause for thought as regards resale value, and if I'm honest yes, it's a weird feeling. I'll think about it.

Keep the opinions coming folks, this is helpful.

My opinion is the only thing to use the information for would be to beat the price down. Although that's unlikely in the current market.

tuxy

What about buying houses that were built over land that someone had been buried on.
Like lets say a mass burial dating back to the neolithic period.
Is that an issue?

Ayuntamiento

tuxy wrote: »

What about buying houses that were built over land that someone had been buried on.
Like lets say a mass burial dating back to the neolithic period.
Is that an issue?

That wouldn't thrill me either to be honest.
I understand you're trying to rationalize the argument but all of us here are speaking about our gut reaction to the situation. There might be very little logic to it but that tends to be how people make decisions about massive undertakings like buying a house. It's best the OP knows that a lot (maybe most) of people that he might try to resell to will have a problem with this.

ohnonotgmail

Breezer wrote: »

An adult.

I unearthed an old Thom's directory. It is the house.

This thread is giving me a lot of pause for thought as regards resale value, and if I'm honest yes, it's a weird feeling. I'll think about it.

Keep the opinions coming folks, this is helpful.

Is the house being sold at a significant discount? that is the only thing that matters.