Ghosts

If I had ghosts flying around my house at night, I would consider that to be an important piece of information to disclose to a prospective buyer.  In Minnesota most sellers of residential property complete a seller's disclosure form which is intended to disclose any known material defects (physical conditions), but only the material facts.  The Minnesota Association of REALTORS® Seller's Property Disclosure form does not compel disclosure of some emotional facts that can be important to buyers.

Page 5 of the disclosure clearly states:  "There is no duty to disclose the fact that the property "was occupied by someone with HIV or AIDS, was the site of a suicide, accidental death, natural death or perceived paranormal activity (legalese for ghosts), or is near any adult family home, community based residential facility or nursing home.  Only one category in that list would disturbe me as a buyer.  HIV, AIDS, group home, or even a death in the home are not important to me.  Ghosts, however, would be a completely different issue.  Ghosts.  .  .  well, I'm not so sure I like things that go bump in the night!  Even if they are friendly!

Since the seller is not really required to disclose these items, agents are caught in a quandry.  What happens if a buyer's belief system is totally against living in a home where a death has occurred?  Or, if their belief system allows occupancy of such a home only after a cleansing ritual?  Respect for the buyer's belief would make disclosure of such information important to the transaction.

Years ago real estate operated under the caveat emptor system (buyer beware) and sellers did not have to disclose anything about the property.  The sytem is slowly moving toward more disclosure by the seller.  Even though the seller has "no duty to disclose" that does not mean a court of law would find in favor of a seller who did not disclose.  Properties with emotional situations that impact their value are considered "stigmatized".  The legal system sometimes recognizes that disclosure is not required about these situations while still deciding in favor of the uninformed buyer.

How then should some of these tricky disclosures be handled?  Several years ago in Minnesota a wealthy family experienced the most traumatic of tragedies, one family member viciously killed another in the home.  The listing agent was discrete.  Instead of airing the family's dirty laundry to all "looky-loos", the disclosure statement said that a family tragedy had occurred in the home and serious buyers could enquire for details from the listing agent.  A simple statement like this example honors the family's need for privacy, but allows the information to be conveyed to serious prospects.  The presence of paranormal activity could be handled in a similar manner.

Comments

[Mary Pope-Handy]

Hi Bonnie,

Good post. It is interesting to me that "material facts" can be viewed so differently from one state to the next. In many places, sellers don't have to disclose unless directly asked by a buyer about deaths or ghosts - so if I had a buyer client with concerns about those, I would put it in writing and present it to the sellers. Thank you for your thorough commentary. Mind if I quote you on my site, www.HauntedRealEstate.com?

All the best,
Mary Pope-Handy