Suicide In House...
This is a morbid, but I hope not disrespectful, topic and I need your help.
I may be able to get a house at a discounted price (it hasn't yet been listed).
The house was tenant-occupied until recently, when the tenant committed suicide.
If I was able to purchase it and then turn around and sell it, how much would the value of the house be affected by the suicide?
Thanks in advance.
it would all depend on whether or not this information was devulged. i don't know that you'd actually have to tell...any takers on this subject??
[addsig]
In California you have to tell all potential buyers of deaths that occurred in the house w/i last 3 years, unless it is AIDs related.
In many states you are not required to divulge deaths from any source as they do not materially affect the property.
[addsig]
jimmyu --
The above post by JIMBROKER is 100% correct for properties & sellers in California.
1) So you can continue with your original plan to buy and immediately resall ... you will be required by California law to disclose about the past suicide even though you did not own the property.
2) Revised your plan to buy and hold onto property until after the 3 years have past. Then you will not be required by California law to disclose about the suicide after 3 years.
There were several posts about this same subject about 2-3 months ago. I do recall those posts when on for several pages. Every poster, investor, rehab, agent, broker, attorney, state, neighbor, etc had an opinion. Those posts were quite interesting reading of opinions. I am wondering where this will go. Obviously ... a lively subject matter (all bun intended).
Cheryl Lopez
Suggestion for when disclosing this to the buyer:
"The neighbors were so bad that the tenant committed suicide. Hehe. No really."
I wouldn't have posted it if it weren't based on true events.
Best of luck explaining that one,
Ray Merz
RRMerz --
Then explain more about the "true events" neighbors.
Cheryl Lopez
If you get the property at a nice discounted price - you might be able to pull a cash flow using it as a rental. You could hold as a rental for 3 years & then sell, if desired. I would imagine you probably don't have to disclose the suicide to new tenants as you would a new owner.... just a thought...
you are not required to info. in tenn. i have sold a home where my wife died in house. the buyers were told with no effecft. i bought and sold a with home where a lady was murdered and the info. was known with no effect. i have found even if the info. is not required the buyers always find out........kenmax
Ask a realtor to show you the disclosure form for your local realtor or call your estate department. If that doesn't work, just know that disclosures of this nature are made on commonly used forms. You can try this: making the review of full disclosures a condition of your purchase offer. So you make the offer, with the condition that you get full disclosures, and see if the form mentions death. If they do not, you are in luck. If they do, tell the seller you are freaked out by that needing to be disclosed on the form, and proceed from there - back out, renogotiate a lower price, or buy it as a rental for awhile.
I just did this for another problem I spoted with a property yesterday - a cracked slab. So I didn't mention the slab and simply made the offer based on full disclosures. The completed disclosure form was sent to me with the counteroffer. Now I negotiating a lower price because they didn't reveal the crack.
But as far as the death issue in California, yes indeed, that question was on the disclosure form. A seller must disclose if someone died in the property within the last 3 years.
But you are in New Jersey. Might not be mandatory disclosure in your state.
MarleneM
Don't ask, don't tell?
Except for statutory defect disclosure requirements, which vary by state law, if a buyer doesn't ask, the seller usually doesn't have to disclose. It's up to the home buyer to ask about special concerns.
But some problems are of special concern to just a few buyers. Death on the premises is one of these potential problems, which bother some buyers but not others.
To illustrate, a few years ago, a San Francisco real estate broker was sued by his home buyer for failing to disclose there had been a suicide in the house. The broker knew about the suicide but didn't disclose it because the event had nothing to do with the house's structural condition or desirability. However, the buyer came from a country where suicide on a property is considered a bad omen. After learning about the suicide, the buyer sued the realty broker. The jury found the broker had no liability because the buyer didn't ask if there had been a recent death on the property.
The obligation to disclose, I believe, falls into 2 categories.
First, there are disclosures on specific issues required by specific state & federal laws.
Second, there's disclosure of "material facts" -- those issues that reasonably could be relevant to a potential buyer's decision to purchase. The issues do not have to have any connection with the structural integrity of buildings. For instance, stigmatized properties or planned or proposed facilities, shopping centers, landfills, highways, etc. near the property that could well influence the buyer's decision.
If you think about it, it's not reasonable to put on the buyer the obligation to ask the seller about every possible issue. The bottom line, I believe, is that if the seller/seller's rep knows of any "material fact", they must disclose.
I had thought that you must disclose any fact material affecting the value of the property and I had belived that a death in the house did affect. I have no facts to back up my belief.
But still, I would disclose. Last thing you need is the possibility of a lawsuit when you could have disclosed it and sold the property to someone who did not care.
Just remembered, I was born in a house that my father purchased, and still lives in, from an estate where the previous owners had committed a double suicide or possibly a murder suicide.
Brenda
In my state, Indiana, you do not need to disclose deaths in or near the home.
Hmmm...
I thought only unnatural deaths, (murder, suicide) had to be disclosed in California.
Live and learn.
D.
Folks,
Only unnatural deaths, (murder, suicide) and so on need to be reported. A natural death does not apply in or near the home!