Realtor.com did a survey on people's willingness to buy a haunted house last year, and the results were a little surprising. Turns out that just over a quarter of people say they'd consider buying a haunted house, and 36 percent said they might consider it. Of course, most of those people (almost 90 percent) said they'd expect a discount.
That makes me wonder, though, whether that's a realistic expectation.
Is a haunted house really less expensive?
Obviously, you could easily assume that a haunted house may have a cheaper price point because a majority of people would look elsewhere. That could be true. But most states don't require the disclosure of supernatural occurrences to prospective homeowners, and many (if not most) only find out about them when they've already committed.That said, if you can locate someone who did buy such a home and considers it a deal-breaker, you might be able to lowball them.
Additionally, most houses that are considered haunted are older. That puts them squarely in the realm of fixer-uppers, which can be cheaper. But you do have to consider the cost of actually making the fixes. There may even be a need to bring certain parts of the home up to modern codes.
But there's also another issue you may need to consider. Believe it or not, there's actually an expert when it comes to homes that have a rather dubious history. He's appraised locations affected by the L.A. riots, the condo where Nicole Brown (O.J. Simpson's ex-wife) was murdered and the home of JonBenet Ramsey and her family.
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