Page 15 - 200903 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - March 2009

Was Your Home Once A Crime Scene? 15 Was Your Home Once A Crime Scene? 15 Orangeville Buyer Beware: Was having kids, and they said they just felt bad Buyer Beware: Was Orangeville karma." Your Home Once a Town Hall a spooky Your Home Once a "People have visceral reactions to this Town Hall a spooky Crime Scene? place? Crime Scene? stuff," she said. place? Phil Immel, a licensed real estate broker and self-professed real estate guru, told Orangeville Citizen Orangeville Citizen Real Estate Experts Tell You ABCNews.com that there are several easy How to Be a Smart Home Buyer things potential homeowners can do to protect The arrival of consultants at themselves from such a situation. “I knew a Orangeville's 134- year-old town hall is couple who sold their house because they found commonplace, but the consultants who visited out after they moved that a suicide had occurred over the weekend were not normal. In fact, they there in the past," said Sonn. were paranormal. "Definitely Google the address or the The Meadowvale Spookies Paranormal city and look for it under crimes that have been Research Team visited the building Saturday recorded by the Police Department or written night to investigate and discern the presence of about in newspaper articles," suggested Immel. spiritual entities in the edifice, most of which "If you're really serious about a house, go walk dates from 1875. around the neighborhood and ask the neighbors When the investigation ended, at about 2 if there is anything interesting you should know a.m., the team determined that the town hall is a about the property." highly spirited place. Immel also suggested people do an "The place is definitely active," Internet search for the particular state's required concluded researcher Carrie Pierce. "I would disclosure laws so that they know exactly what say this has been one of my best investigations. is required of their broker and what can be I felt there were a couple of people who walked withheld from buyers by law. out of it who were a lot less skeptical than they By EMILY FRIEDMAN In California, where Immel is based, the were when they walked in." law required brokers to inform buyers of crimes Ms. Pierce explained that the role of What if your dream home was once the that have occurred at homes within three years research teams like the Meadowvale Spookies is scene of a gruesome murder? of the purchase. The value of a stigmatized not only to confirm the presence of spirits at a One Minnesota couple faced that home will decrease, according to Immel, location, but also to prove that there aren't. dilemma firsthand when just days after moving depending on the nature of the incident that "You play both sides of the fence when into their new home neighbors told them that occurred there. you do this type of work," she said. "The idea is the previous owner had shot and killed his wife In high-profile cases, for example, to first try and explain it logically." there. Immel recalls hundreds of thousands of dollars The Meadowvale Spookies' claim that Spooked and angry that the agent who being slashed from the asking price because of the town hall is indeed haunted likely came as sold them the house had not told them about the a crime that occurred at the home. no surprise to Stephen Nixon, who works as crime, the couple is now suing the realty After Nicole Brown and her friend Ron assistant technical director of Theatre company. They are seeking $100,000 for Goldman were stabbed to death at Brown's Orangeville, which uses the secondfloor Opera emotional distress and what they see as the Brentwood, Calif., home in 1994, the property House. decreased value of their home, according to sat on the market for more than two years Due to the nature of his job, Mr. Nixon court documents obtained by ABC News. waiting for a buyer. is often alone in the building at night. In an While this couple may benefit from a The home eventually sold for $200,000 interview, he recalled two paranormal Minnesota law requiring brokers to tell buyers less than what Brown had originally paid for it. experiences. about crimes that have occurred in a home, not "If the murder was infamous, the One time, he said, he was locking up all buyers have that advantage, according to property value could certainly go down," said after a performance when he saw a woman several real estate experts. the NAR's Helmon. "That creepy feeling will walking up the stairs from the basement. He Laws concerning stigmatized properties have an adverse effect on the value of the called to her and said "sorry, but we're closed." -- the industry's term to describe homes that home." The woman didn't respond. Instead, she simply have been the scene of a suicide, murder, an Immel said that in the case of the San disappeared. AIDS-related death or even paranormal activity Diego mansion where 39 members of the On another occasion, when Mr. Nixon -- vary from state to state. Heaven's Gate cult killed themselves, the price was doing repairs in the dressing rooms, he Experts advise that homeowners who of the property declined as much as 50 percent heard the sound of someone climbing a step would be opposed to living in a home that was when it was resold. ladder that was positioned on the stage. once the scene of a violent crime do thorough "The price depends on the severity of Concerned about health and safety research before making an offer on a property the stigmatization," said Immel. "Murder would regulations, he ran to the stage to tear a strip off and veer away from relying on brokers to seem to be horrific and would garner a 50 the culprit, only to find there was nobody to be volunteer the information. percent reduction, whereas a landslide on the seen. "What sellers and real estate agents have property might be more toward 30 percent." In his profession, said Mr. Nixon, a to tell buyers depends on where you are," said If the event that an elderly person died at presence of the inexplicable is fairly common. Ralph Holmen, the associate general counselor the home from natural causes, Immel said it's "I've been working in live theatre for 10 years, for the National Association of Realtors. "The unlikely to detract from the value of the home. and I find that most venues have this weird general rule is that they must disclose material While homeowners may assume that feeling about them." adverse defects, such as a chronic leak or they would have heard about a murder that took On Saturday night, a few people on hand damage to the siding of the house." "It's a place at a specific home or in a neighborhood, claimed to see a shadowy figure in the council question as to whether [a murder at the home] or may count on their broker to inform them of chambers. would be considered a material or adverse one, Immel advises buyers to err on the side of For those with a penchant for the glib, it defect to the property," said Holmen. caution. could have been the ghost of a former councillor Karen Sonn, a New York-based real "Because these disclosure laws doomed to purgatory after committing political estate lawyer at Sonn & Associates, said that regarding stigmatized homes vary from state to suicide. she has dealt with several clients who were state," said Phil Immel, a California real estate But the team says it did record a number "completely freaked out" to learn that a deadly broker. "Be a proactive consumer and ask lots of of paranormal occurrences, including the crime or a suicide had occurred in the home questions. presence of orbs of light hovering over the they wanted to buy. "You don't want to live in a haunted house, do investigation's participants. [] "They were freaked out," said Sonn. "They were you?"[]