Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Would you buy a house where someone had killed themself?

49 replies

lucyspangle · 08/07/2011 16:21

Was a little shocked to hear a friend was doing just that.
My DH couldn't understand why I felt it was a bit urgh.
Happened 20 years or so ago and other people have lived in the house since but still I couldn't.
Is it just me who is a 'freaked out feartie' in the words of my DH.

OP posts:
SinicalSal · 08/07/2011 16:24

Wouldn't bother me, I don't think.

About 3 people have died in my house (and it's only 25 years old) no suicide/violence mind you but one of them was SIDS Sad. And we're beside a graveyard, as in just over the (low) wall. Dead can't hurt you.

wfrances · 08/07/2011 16:33

no way had the chance to buy a lovely house but previous owner had hung herself in the garage,then the lady oppo my parents od in her bedroom -fab house was going really cheap but i just kept thinking of her despair /sadness lingering .

Bunbaker · 08/07/2011 16:33

It wouldn't bother me either. Our last house was about 200 years old so the chances are that there would have been several deaths in the house anyway, hopefully not suicide though.

cherryburton · 08/07/2011 16:35

Interesting one. I think it would depend on the feel of the house.

I suppose most old houses have had people die in them but suicide/murder is a bit different...

LittleWhiteWolf · 08/07/2011 16:38

I wouldn't be bothered by that. I'd be sad about it, but it wouldn't put me off buying.

Mollymax · 08/07/2011 17:30

I don't think it would bother me if the " vibe " of the house felt right.
I remember looking round a house before and it felt really soulless.
We didn't buy it.

Acandlelitshadow · 08/07/2011 17:37

I don't think I would. Wouldn't buy somewhere a murder had taken place either.

PhyllisDiller · 08/07/2011 17:58

Not sure, remember a friend who had lived in a house where a man had hung himself in the attic room. It hadn?t bothered her at all even though she swore the house was haunted. She reckoned that every now and again you could hear coughing from the attic, it didn?t freak her out until we suggested that the coughing would be due to the fact that ?ghost? had hung himself?

I?m not sure I?d buy a house with a long line of bad luck though, I think I?m a bit too superstitious to cope with that!

LtEveDallas · 08/07/2011 18:07

The dead can't hurt you. They're dead. That's the absolute last thing I'd be bothered about.

(and seeing as all my fave houses at the moment seem to be decorated in 'granny chic' there's a fair chance that I'll be buying a 'death house')

ShatnersBassoon · 08/07/2011 18:07

Yes I would. You can't catch death from a house, and there's no such thing as ghosts. The previous owner of our house died in the living room. I don't know why the estate agent told us, but it's a good job we're not easily spooked.

LaurieFairyCake · 08/07/2011 18:13

Wouldn't bother me at all - not superstitious in any way. Live in a 160 year old house - probably plenty of deddies in here

mummyosaurus · 08/07/2011 18:16

My house is over 500 years old, sure lots of deaths and possibly a murder or two have happened here. Not bothered at all.

Quite often you wouldn't know would you?

feckwit · 08/07/2011 18:19

Wouldn't bother me either - most houses will have had people die in them!

greycircles · 08/07/2011 18:22

Some people will if the price is right. Round here, there was a house on the market and one parent had murdered the child and then committed suicide. Sold relatively quickly. Peronsally I wouldn't though.

Chestnutx3 · 08/07/2011 18:28

I wonder how many houses forced the residents to killed themselves?

TarquinGyrfalcon · 08/07/2011 18:29

It wouldn't bother me.

Our house is 400 years old - I imagine in that time it has seen its fair share of death, birth, joy and tragedy.

DitaVonCheese · 08/07/2011 18:53

Wouldn't bother me. Previous (elderly) owner of this house died here - next door's kid showed me the exact spot in the garden and gave me the gory details, which was a bit odd. My cousin bought a house and the elderly owner fell down the stairs and died partway through the transaction - the estate agent had to have part of the carpet replaced so as not to put them off.

Death happens. Was brought up in ancient house so perhaps that makes a difference?

Wigeon · 08/07/2011 19:04

Our 1950s house, which we bought 18 months ago, was built when the two Victorian terraces previously on the site were destroyed by a V1 bomb in the Second World War. About 40 people died in that bombing (it not only destroyed the houses on the site of our house, but several others nearby too). I feel completely comfortable living in the house, whilst obviously feeling a detached kind of sadness about the history. But to be honest no more sad than I do about any of the deaths in the war. Or any war.

SinicalSal · 08/07/2011 21:56

Plus there's loads of unhappiness that occurs and leaves no trace, iykwim. There's lots of other types of sadness that could be have occurred in your home.

thisisyesterday · 08/07/2011 21:59

yes, i would if it was the house i really wanted

loads of houses could have had someone die in them and you'd never know

wigglesrock · 08/07/2011 22:02

I would, I've lived in houses where people have died, I think people cling on to this violent death idea but dead is dead. My dad lived in the house where his father died and several siblings died in infancy, and as a previous poster said the house had also had joy - all the children were born at home.

lalalonglegs · 08/07/2011 22:29

Do you think my house is more sellable because I gave birth in it?

pictish · 08/07/2011 22:30

Yes. Our house is 200 years old and I'm willing to bet many people have died in it, and maybe some not all that happily.

wigglesrock · 08/07/2011 22:32

lalalonglegs well it depends, what's the garden like and how many toilets do you have Grin

Bandwithering · 08/07/2011 22:33

I would if it was a bargain!!

There was a house near where I used to live. The wife chopped up her husband and put him in the freezer. It was a lovely house.

Swipe left for the next trending thread