Buying a house you think someone might have died in? Yes or no?

[Aaaghbuying]

Saw a lovely house that's just come on. House here go pretty much within a day - think we saw it first.

It clearly belonged to an old person. And was told it's a probate sale.

What I hadn't expected was that the house still had the hospital bed with all the wipes etc by it. All the personal possessions etc. Looks like nothing has been moved or tidied AT ALL since the owner passed away. Which is a bit creepy.

I asked the estate agent if he knew if anyone had died there and he wisely said he hadn't asked as it's an uncomfortable question to ask, which is true.

Genuinely not sure what to do. It will go very soon whatever and ticks all our boxes in terms of size, location and price.

But I'm not sure if I could buy a house someone could have died in? Is that over-sensitive? It's a Victorian property so someone may well have passed away there in the last 140 years.

Views please. Have you done this and regretted it? Or done this and not regretted it? Or couldn't do it?

Thanks.

The previous owner of our house died here. We met his son, and they seemed like a lovely family with a lot of love for the house, they had many happy memories here. The house has a lovely feel to it, like a real home. I think you get a gut feeling when you are in a house, and it's important to go with that. If it feels creepy then it's a no.

Of course I would.
Wouldn't bother me at all.

If you are looking at a house that is 140 years old, odds are that several people would have died there.

Just echoing all the others who have said that death in the house isn’t always bad. My grandma died in her home and that’s what she wanted. She had hospice people and family and friends around her and that was the best possible thing for her.
I think I would have been ‘oh no someone died here’ before that but it brought a new perspective to it.

Any house which predates the NHS by a fair bit will almost certainly have seen both births and deaths. It wouldn't bother me at all.

My brother died recently in our family home and mum is selling because it is much too big for her. Lots of happy memories in there and it was a home full of love. A young family is buying it so hopefully they will enjoy the same. My brother was a wonderful kind man so hopefully if they “feel” anything it will be his kindness.

I'm in the process of moving into the house my mum died in. Her and my dad lived their for all their lives and it holds such lovely, positive memories for me.

Would it help to think of all the positive memories that had been made in the house? That someone loved it so much there they stayed for all those years?

You are way overthinking. Most older houses have seen a death. As long as it doesnt happen every year on a certain date, I would not be at all bothered. Used to sleep in the bed my granny died in when I visited my parents. It was not a problem.

Death is part of life. I live in an Edwardian home and I don’t dwell on people dying in this house, I think about the births, the marriages and all the happy memories that were made in my home. I am quite sure there was heartbreak and illness too. All part of life.

There are worse things that can happen in a house that someone dying peacefully.

If you liked it and got good vibes go for it.

*All their married lives, sorry!

To be honest unless it was murder or suicide I’d not be bothered by this

However I live in a 400 year old house and I don’t think anyone died here, I could be wrong but we are only the third family to own it as residential and it had a previous, happy purpose, that was not residential as such.

However if someone did I’d be ok with it, unless as said it was murder or suicide.

Wouldn’t bother me , both my dad and mum died in what was our family home and my sister lives there now .

I doubt there is a single square metre in the country where nobody has died

My nan died in her house, can't remember if my grandad did, both expected deaths and they where cared for at home so there was hospital-ish stuff there. My dad died at home too but suddenly.

Before I was kinda squeamish about that kind of thing, I grew up in a house where the last owner died (old age kind of thing). But my nan dying wasn't so weird and my dad dying was weird in that I was surprisingly ok with my toddler sat right where he died on the sofa hours after and catching myself sat there a few days later and not being freaked out.

On the flip side DD was born in our flat and that's a lovely thing

Maybe you should stick to new builds.

Although even they could be build on a grave site.

My house is over 100 years old and I know for a fact that the people o bought it from bought it in a probate sale. A house that has been happily lived in and loved is a good thing surely?

Was there a creepy looking doll "staring" towards the head of the hospital bed?
Check the attic. Does it contain a mysterious box full of 8mm home video nobody can account for?
Is there a basement or outbuilding? If so, does it contain a fat book full of pentangle and Latin?
Is there a rocking chair that rocks by itself? Perhaps an old record player, that plays a song performed by small children in a minor key?

If not, it's just a house mate.

My MIL died on the same spot where my youngest was born in our sitting room.

Doesn't bother us at all.

The previous owner of our house died in a care home but I have no idea where her husband died. I wouldn’t dwell on this, just ask EA who would be responsible for cleaning the house and by what date they will do this. Also I remember something about certain period before you can sell probate, I’m not sure exactly but we saw the house once and were told that they would be able to sell only after certain period, just doing viewings in advance, we didn’t like the house anyway so didn’t ask further.

Oh and our neighbours mum died in her room too.

It wouldn't bother me.
There are a couple of houses locally I wouldn't buy. One was the site of a double murder. The other is a house where the residents went for a night out and were both hit and killed crossing the road on their way home. Nothing to do with the house but there's something about the way they left it and never got home. I wasn't alone, it took months and months to sell.

I expect that the previous owner of our old house died there, it was a probate sale, I didn’t ask but from what the family said she died in her sleep. I never gave it a thought to be honest. I gave birth in the house just before we completed on the sale and we didn’t tell our buyer in case she asked us to change the flooring!

Our house was built in 1647 so quite a few deaths would have taken place here. No problem.

People spend more time living in a house than dying in it . Think about all the memories associated with the place rather than just what you've seen there when you've viewed it.

My.mum died in my family home. I don't know why it's made me feel quite sad that someone might be put off by that. Much more importantly she LIVED in that house. She worked tirelessly in the garden, she cared for us there. It's no longer my family home and I hope the young couple who moved in love it as much as we did.