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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:

springboksaplenty · 08/07/2011 22:38

Oh gosh yes. Especially now that it seems that it goes cheap because of it.

Although weirdly the idea of a SIDS death made me go but still probably would (but probably wouldn't have ds in that room).

Which I guess means that I am superstitious. But I love a bargain more.

lachesis · 08/07/2011 22:38

No.

Nor a murder house.

mollschambers · 08/07/2011 22:41

Yes. If I liked the house. Wouldn't make any difference to me at all.

BrokenBananaTantrum · 08/07/2011 22:41

No but I'm weird about stuff like that. My house is old and probably someone has died here bit I don't know about it. If I did I would be a bit freaked out. Stupid I know.

PetronusOfSteel · 08/07/2011 22:43

It wouldn't bother me at all, particularly not if it was that long ago, most old houses have probably had all sorts happen in them.

If you believe bricks and mortar can be effected by these things do you only ever live in new-build houses?

cherryburton · 09/07/2011 10:38

Where's expat, she's good on threads like this...

jeanjeannie · 10/07/2011 09:13

Not read all the comments - just saw the title and thought I'd post because the last house I bought, the previous owner committed suicide only a year before. It had remained empty and his family hadn't wanted to deal with it. What can I say? It was a mess and without going into details...it wasn't a pretty site. It clearly put a lot of buyers off as it was on the market for months...and that was 10 years ago, in London, when everything was being snapped up within a week.

I bought it for a great price - did it up - loved it and was really happy there. Also the neighbours were lovely and I think it helped them, seeing it being lived in and cared for.

lachesis · 10/07/2011 09:14

You mean they didn't clean up the mess, jean?

Most insurances will cover the cost of that.

lachesis · 10/07/2011 09:22

If anything, that is a health hazard to not clean it up. How did they find an estate agent to flog the place?

MovingAndScared · 10/07/2011 09:55

Not if it was 20 years ago - maybe if it was recent - thats not rational either

lachesis · 10/07/2011 09:58

Even 20 years ago. That was only 1991.

ChristinedePizan · 10/07/2011 10:01

For all I know someone could have killed themselves in my house - it's 100 years old. Wouldn't bother me at all

jeanjeannie · 10/07/2011 20:19

Lachesis - it was fire and chemicals which caused structural damage...all perfectly ok to put right though. Nothing gory but just a mess.

ajandjjmum · 10/07/2011 20:25

DH and I looked around a house where the parents had been killed in a car accident, leaving three late teens/early 20's DC, who'd kept the house for a couple of years afterwards. It felt like kids were camping out there.

One of the sons showed us around, and two weeks later hung himself in the garden.

There was no way I could have bought that house afterwards - so sad.

buttonandjess · 10/07/2011 21:05

I am a great believer in the "feel" of a house. We lived in a house for seven years which always felt unhappy. No idea why this was the case, even my husband who is a complete sceptic thought this was the case. I personally don't think I could buy a house where I knew something violent had happened or someone had taken their life.

lachesis · 10/07/2011 23:21

If it works for you, jean, then more power to you! :)

It wouldn't work for me, and I would know as I viewed the home.

If it feels wrong, I won't live there.

But I'm a renter, too.

Ixia · 15/07/2011 13:16

We rented a house that I really loved, but the lounge was always freezing, no matter what we did to heat it. Also I never felt comfortable in that room at night. Turned out the previous tenant had shot his self in there :( we were glad to leave after we found out.

I live in an old house, so presumably people have died here and that doesn't bother me, but I sometimes think sad or violent events can leave an imprint on a house and after our previous experience I'd run a mile from a house that doesn't feel right.

noddyholder · 15/07/2011 13:18

WE bought somewhere where the owners dad had killed her mum. It was a notorious case locally but we knew nothing about it. When he got out of prison he phoned as we still had the number and I chatted away about his daughter etc A neighbour later told us about the case! The flat was lovely though and never felt spooky at all

lachesis · 15/07/2011 13:28

You chatted away with a convicted murderer who topped his partner in your house? .

noddyholder · 15/07/2011 14:07

Yes but I didn't know His daughter obviously never told him she had moved! Not surprising really

TrillianAstra · 15/07/2011 14:10

Is there still blood everywhere? I'd want a discount if there is.

noddyholder · 15/07/2011 14:12

No we sold it years ago!

lachesis · 15/07/2011 14:28

I knew someone who took on a flat where there actually was blood everywhere.

It didn't go well, his tenancy there, tbh.

ohbabybaby · 15/07/2011 14:39

When I was buying my first house I found out there had been a murder there, about 3 years beforehand. I wouldn't have gone ahead with it if they hadn't caught the guy who had done it, or if it had been a random break in, but it was a domestic and the murderer was in prison. I also figured I would have sold the house on by the time he was out of prison (wouldn't have liked the idea of him walking past the house, especially as I was a lone woman living there).

When I got my new house I mentioned to a colleague that at least there hadn't been a murder in this house, and he said 'how do you know...' - OK, fair point!

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