Would you buy a house that somebody had been murdered in?

Yes if I was planning to move and it fitted with my requirements. What has happened in the house in the past is irrelevant.

@Wendolino a relative of mind died a violent death and wasn't found in their property for a few days. When I was eventually given the keys and went in I was really shocked to find that the clean up was down to me. I don't know what I expected and I am not sure I expected it to have been cleaned up by magic exactly but I didn't expect to be allowed in without any warning at all about what I would see let alone have to deal with. It therefore doesn't surprise me that no one had cleaned up in the house you mention.

I mean if the house needed scrubbing probably not.

Otherwise it wouldn't bother me.

I live in a house well over a hundred years old. I expect that some unpleasant things have happened here. But I don't know what they are, so I can't be bothered by them.

The OP's question here is - would one buy a house in which one knew something horrible had happened?

Well, as obviously the building itself has no effect on me when I don't know what's happened, it should have no effect on me when I do know what's happened.

So if I don't buy the place, it's nothing to do with the house, which has no memory and no knowledge. It's to do with me. And I don't think I'd allow myself that sort of nonsense.

In short, yeah - I'd buy it.

Yes, but it would have to be dirt cheap, so cheap as it’s entirely likely you’d be unable to sell it later, especially if it was a murder which was very much in the media. I’m not at all “woo” or really superstitious though.

Yes. I would make it a happy place again. I would research the people who were murdered and place a small plant/tree in the garden, make it a token of respect. I believe in good and bad vibes of a home. I just think as sad and somber as it seems, there's always a way to make it a home again.

This. Vibes are more important than history. I was the first owner of a new build and the evil vibes are something I never want a repeat of. I tried researching the history of the plot but there was nothing but fields prior to the build.

Yes I would if everything else suited.

I think there is a huge difference in a house having had people dying it which is quite natural, to a house where a violent murder as occurred. Many houses have people that have died in them naturally, but to me would be a different kettle of fish where someone had been violently murdered..

Mostly you don’t know the history of any property that is not a new build. And even then,what’s it been built on?
If you like the place, do it.

I knew someone in the 1980s whose daughter was offered a council house. She and her family went to look and there was something splashed all over the walls in the living room and they thought it was paint. It was actually the blood of the young woman who lived there before who was battered to death by her husband.
I would have thought in a situation like that, the blood would have been cleaned away.

I would consider buying it, but only to Airbnb it. I understand people not wanting to buy to live in it but I'll bet there's a huge market for people wanting the experience of staying a weekend in such a place.

Depends on the vibe when I viewed and whether it was a beautiful forever home or a flat I'd want to resell

I think I would have to go there and see how I felt about the place.

It wouldn’t bother me, so long as the forensic evidence had been properly managed before I was buying! I would hope to get a cheap deal… however if the house had been empty for 12 years THAT would put me off!

Nope , not if someone bought it & gifted it to me !

Like Fargo I've lived in old houses and maybe at some time in the future, I might get spooky thoughts, who knows, but 12 years is rather a long time.

I mean it's going to put u off to some level, guess it would be worse to buy it then find out after you've moved in, but it's all psychological at the end of the day there are lots of old houses in this country where all sorts has happened

My mother wouldnt. Always took a dog.
Funny because i remember her doing it and thinking it was odd as a kid, but then you see the dogs go happily through most front doors and stop dead at another, you end up trusting the dogs opinion.

As for murder house - maybe if i liked it.
I suppose we live on ancient land, there cant be much of it left where something bad hasnt happened at some point.

Yes.

Of course I’ve visited houses I didn’t like. But I don’t attribute that to anything bad that may have previously happened there.

Many years ago, an acquaintance ĺived with her boyfriend. He killed himself in their house in a particularly messy way. She arrived home, found him. Took a while to refurbish before selling. Which she never did. She continued to live there for about 5 years or more without apparent distress. I have no idea how she did this, I would have seen him every time I closed my eyes. We are all different.

I would

I do believe in things absorbing energy (eg when you're house hunting and a get a good/bad feeling as soon as you walk into a house for no obvious reason) but I also think you're right that architecture etc. can also induce feelings.

There was a building by me that was demolished and people said it was haunted. It was a really weird looking building. It was obviously designed to intimidate and it was kind of scary and didn't look like any of the buildings around it. That was always going to have stories about it! I find the theories behind architecture and the impact it has and how people interact with it really interesting.

I looked at a house once. It was a foreclosure (is that a British term even?) on a victorian house that had been converted into a b&b so it had a really weird layout with doors blocked off, uneven floor boards, strange smell, random panelling and some of the rooms just didn't make sense so all a bit odd and "uncomfortable". However one of the rooms just felt awful. I walked in and had to walk straight back out again. Now logically, you could say it was because it was in an extension so was a different temperature with different walls, ceiling height etc. so would have felt different to the rest of the house. It wasn't as bright as the other rooms and was also L shaped so you couldn't see the whole room at once. However it caused such a reaction in me. Even if the rest of the house had been perfect, I wouldn't have bought it just because of this one room. The other 2 extension rooms were fine (in fact I actually loved one of them). I found out afterwards that the EA wouldn't actually even go into that room. I never found out why.

Developers bought the house and turned it into flats. The extension rooms being a single flat. Looking at pictures they moved the wall, put in bigger windows etc. It's a really lovely looking flat now with a private garden. The rest of the flats sold quite quickly and dont seem to come up very often. However, they struggled to sell this flat and had to reduce the price. It also seems to go on the market quite frequently too.

I have looked into the history of the building but there isn't really much but that room had a bad feeling and presumably still does if people won't stay in the flat despite it being beautiful and the develops seemingly addressing the architectural issues.

A few years ago we woke and on a local Facebook page was a post about a fire in the road opposite our house, during the night. Looked out of the window to see a fire hose connected to a hydrant out side our house. We didn't hear a thing. Turns out, the estranged husband came to the house, killed his ex wife, then built a bonfire in the kitchen, set it alight and sat under a kitchen unit await his death. The fir brigade found him, alive and he was committed to a secure unit for life, but the house was burnt out. It was empty for a year or two, then the builders moved in, left the outer walls but rebuilt the rest. It was then rented out before being sold to a lovely family. It is a modern, 4 bed detached house. We walk past the house every day, and remember the incident, but ascfarcas I am aware, the new owners are very happy there.