Ok! I lived in a house for over 10 years and had alot of paranormal experiences there..such as seeing ghosts, hearing things, electrical appliances exploding, objects moving on there own, etc. The over all feeling I have there is a very creepy feeling. It hits you as soon as you walk in the house, at least it does with me cause I am sensitive. Well We put the house up for sale last year, had a realtor friend try to sell it..he didnt do his job so I fired him. Well my sister decided to rent it with her new boyfriend..1 month later she left him and the house so now it is empty. she is still paying rent till june but she isnt living there. It took us over 10 years to completely remodel this house, it looks fantastic compared to what it looked like before. I have had other people walk in the house and not want to go back inside it- they say it creeps them out that there is something in the house. I even had the house blessed and it didnt help...Well We put a for sale sign in the yard last week..So here is the question...Do I or should I tell people who look at it that it may be haunted? That I have had alot of paranormal and unexplained experiences in the house? My husband thinks I should not say a word about that. That it will turn people away. I was thinking of having an open house very soon but the problem with that is i cant stand being in the house...I never liked the house at all...I never wanted to be in it and even now I dont like to go inside it..no matter what we did to it it still feels creepy. I seriously am beginning to feel like I will be stuck with that house, its like it just doesnt want us to sell it to anyone or rent it to anyone. Sounds strange I know but it is a thorn in my side and I dont know if telling people it may be haunted would be good or bad..any suggesstions??? Thanks..Kim

Oh yeah when we lived there my husband and I would fight all the time, bad things would happen like I was in the back yard and the neighbors were shooting guns next door,,,pretty long distance from us and a bullet went off a tree and went flying right past my head, I got locked in the basement while my 2 year old was upstairs, had to bust the door open to get out, things of mine would totally dissapear,,our dog who never went in the road ran out into the road and died, my husbands race car caught on fire at the race track and burned to the ground, I had a miscarriage while in that house, My husband bought the house when he was like 21- he got divorced twice before I came along, one of them tried to kill herself in that house, the other one cheated on him with his best friend- in that house, Alot of bad things happened to us while we lived there- some things happened at the house and some things happened outside of the house, I know bad things happen to people but we had alot of bad luck while we lived there....The house we now live in is peaceful, we dont fight anymore and have not had any bad or paranormal experiences in this house..thank God!!!

Personally I don't believe in haunted houses so my advice would be to go for it and advertise that the house shows signs of paranormal activity. Don't come right out and say it's haunted but definately try to sell it on the paranormal aspect. The way I look at it is you will have those who believe in it, will be intrigued and will want to examine it further and buy it just for the sake of saying they live in a haunted house. Or you will have those who don't believe in it, could care less, and instead are after a good deal and hope that you will lower the price because the house is "haunted"

Just my opinion - good luck!

You have two choices:

1. shut up about the 'paranormal' stuff. Most sensible people would not notice a thing unless they were 'alerted' to it in advance

2. capitalize on it; promote it as a 'haunted ' bed-and-breakfast.

Well, actually I lied. Your third choice is to sit on it for the next 20 years until it can be sold for the 'bare land' value, or drop your asking price right now by 50%.

I wouldn’t say anything about it. If any crimes were committed in the house, I think you are morally obligated to disclose that, but I don’t think you’re under any obligation to disclose paranormal activity. I would personally want to know if I were moving into a supposedly-haunted house, but it would likely hurt your efforts to sell it if you broadcast it. A lot of people would be turned off.

Of course, you could always include an exorcism as part of the closing arrangement (right up there with a furnace inspection and a carpet cleaning).

True anecdote:

When I was at university I stayed at a students' residence that was two adjacent big old houses in New Westminster, B.C.

A woman named Elizabeth, a German immigrant, would visit -- especially when she needed to phone home to Germany and was low on funds. She had lived there as a student a couple of years previously. It was she who told me of the ghost -- after she 'borrowed' my phone when I was out.

She said that residents had heard and seen strange things, but no one could explain them, until she, Elizabeth, used her psychic gifts. It was the spirit of an old lady, the previous owner of one of the houses, who had died there all alone, and who liked to visit because she enjoyed the presence of the young people. Elizabeth had this right from the spirit herself, who had assured Elizabeth that she meant no harm. Elizabeth said the lady materialized for her, and rocked in a ghostly chair. (I did not ask how the chair had been materialized, but I was curious, because I understand ectoplasm from the medium's body, used, according to the physics of spiritism, in materializations, is both rare and transient, and its emission places great stress upon the medium.)

Elizabeth shared these accounts with the other students - about twenty of them - who lived there at the time. They listened large-eyed. Several of them still lived at the residence when I moved in.

After Elizabeth left that day, the other students told me this story.

There had been a very friendly young lady living with her boyfriend in one of two units on the top floor of one of the old houses. She and her boyfriend had stayed up very late one evening, painting their bedroom. They didn't finish, so put the lids on the unused paint and went to bed, planning to finish in the morning.

As it happens the friendly young lady was also very, very friendly with the young man who lived in the other top-floor unit, and so, after her boyfriend went to sleep, she tiptoed to the door without switching on the light, intending to visit the other young man, but not wishing to disturb her boyfriend's well-earned rest.

Unfortunately she forgot about the paint cans, and tripped over one, spilling its contents, fortunately water-based, and in her confusion, leaving a trail of footprints on the floor. Her startled cry awoke the boyfriend and also brought her other friend on the run, who had not been asleep, but had been awake in his darkened room awaiting her visit. All lights came on, and the very under-dressed young lady stammered that she had heard a noise and had gone to investigate and seen a shadowy figure at the top of the stairs.

Since there had been some incidents of goods-going-missing, especially the contents of various student's 'stashes', the whole house was alerted and a search conducted. No intruder was found, and all downstairs doors and windows were found to be locked, for a change.

Elizabeth was out of funds at that time, and visited the following day, when she heard of the mysterious intruder who had not been impeded by locked doors.

It took Elizabeth's insight to explain the phenomenon. The students explained to me that they were very grateful to Elizabeth, since without her enlightenment they would have supposed that the friendly young lady had made the whole thing up.

The other students also explained to me what they would do to me if I ever told Elizabeth about the very friendly young lady's part in the events. They explained that they did not want to see the magic destroyed by my cheap cynicism. And not wishing to end my days in a shallow grave somewhere, I never did tell.

Until now.

Definitely don't say anything about it. My god, for heaven's sake, don't say anything about it.

This is a very good example of why people should not sell their own houses. Hire a real estate professional and stay away when they are showing your property. Do not get involved. People mess up the value of their homes in exactly this type of manner.

AND don't hire another friend to sell the house. Hire the person in your town that sells the most real estate. It's okay to hire a friend when you know you've got an easy sale, but when you've already had a tough experience you need to hire the best in town.

Thanks...yeah I am not going to say anything about it..I am not going to hire another realtor at this time. The realtor we hired was a friend and we thought he would do a great job but he did not. So we are going to sell it ourselves.
When I was in my 20's ( my first marriage) we bought an older house and low and behold there was alot of paranormal activity there. I lived there for 3 years. The activity I heard, felt and saw there was unreal. I saw a dog in the house, a specific breed of dog. Its a long story but I thought holy crap did I just see that!!!..Well I decided to ask my neighbor if the previous owners had this specific breed of dog and they said yes they did, the dog died in that house...I never told them I actually saw this ghost dog in the house. Other stuff I saw was later confirmed by my neighbors by the questions I later asked. Such as the occupents in the house, which I saw and later it was confirmed by my neighbors the older couple died in that house. I made upp some story to get the info from my neighbors without letting them know the place had paranormal activity in it. The neighbors were best friends with the past family that died there, they lived there all their lives. So yeah I do believe in this stuff cause I have seen it with my own eyes. I totally understand if some do not believe..thats cool with me.

I think the house market is just slow right now. If you hire a professional they can do the leg work for you. You don't pay until you sell.

P.S. Didn't you used to post under the name BookHunter? Your posts sound kind of familiar.

Doooooon't saaaaaay a woooooord!

OMG that really made me jump!

Where did DG get that bath robe?

That's nothing, wait till he flashes!

quote:

Originally posted by clarebear:
I think the house market is just slow right now. If you hire a professional they can do the leg work for you. You don't pay until you sell.

P.S. Didn't you used to post under the name BookHunter? Your posts sound kind of familiar.

Hi- yeah I was thebookhunter but I couldnt remember my password and the email I used to have so I had to reregister....glad you remembered Yeah I thought I posted some topics about this before...Yeah it is tough to sell a house at this time cause the market is down but if we cant sell it we are going to possibly auction it off. we really have to get rid of it..making 2 house payments is killing us. We couldnt sell the house until we got it finished. Just our luck the market started to crap out since we put it on the market. I am really trying to stay positive. I mean gosh we put so much time and money into it and it really does look great! All it is going to take is for the right person to look at it.

Pay a professional realtor. Repeat... pay a professional realtor.

You will broker a much better deal and benefit from their marketing departments. By using a friend, you've spoiled realtors in your mind. At the very least interview some people. It's a horrible idea for you to show this property for so many reasons. It doesn't hurt to interview people - it does happen that realtors will blackball a property that is trying to be sold from owner. It really does. You should consider that customers looking for homes go to realtors and you don't want to be out of their commission schedule by listing yourself. It is not a rip off, it is a manner of marketing properties effectively.

Hire a professional. I won't post again but I'll be made sick if you come back complaining that it isn't going well if you don't hire a realtor. Try a four month contract with someone. Try an incentive plan with someone but for goodness sake make sure they are the best in your area and not just the nicest or your friend.

You don't need to auction it off if you do this right... that is truly how to lose money.

Yikes.

Good advice. The only time I didn't do pretty well selling property was once when a friend talked me out of using a realtor. Then after thrashing around for 7 months, I contracted with a realtor for a commission and they sold it within a month.

I will consider hiring another realty company. Thanks for the advice..The realty company I hired was one of the best in the area.- they only showed it 3 or 4 times in a 6 month period.

quote:

Originally posted by babthrower:
Good advice. The only time I didn't do pretty well selling property was once when a friend talked me out of using a realtor. Then after thrashing around for 7 months, I contracted with a realtor for a commission and they sold it within a month.

I am happy for you- you really lucked out

Girl, I'LL buy your house. Sounds crazy, but I have my reasons. Course it depends on where you live