The Niche Market of Haunted Home

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The Niche Market of Haunted Home
December 28, 2010
Paranormal Utopia

Many states have laws that require a home’s seller to disclose the nature of any paranormal activity that has occurred in a home and in most cases it can affect the price the seller can fetch. On the other hand, there are certain folks that are trying to market their home’s paranormal activity as a plus. Even more interesting is the number of people that are specifically looking for ‘haunted homes’ for sale. It may sound surprising, but it’s true.

In some cases, the more haunted a home is, the more valuable it can become. If the seller can inarguably prove their home to have exceptional events taking place, the more likely they are to create a bidding war on their home to get prices over its actual value in a market and economy that has created a savvy home buyer pool that knows they have the upper hand and sellers are becoming so desperate they’re willing to sell a home well below its value just to get out from underneath their ARM payments.

If a buyer is in fact looking for a ghostly estate, they have to become as knowledgeable as possible in what clear evidence is. It can be safely assumed that the majority of these buyers looking for homes with some ‘Casper’ charm to them probably are also fans of series on television such as Ghost Adventures or Paranormal State, and while many of them may in fact be professional paranormal investigators themselves, others might be simply interested in the experience and could easily be duped. When approaching one of these home sellers, it’s important to bring in your own assessment team. With almost every home sell, there is a number of inspections to make sure the plumbing is not about to fall apart, the roof is in tact, termites are absent or being treated for and so forth. Therefore, when buying a haunted home, make sure to bring in a professional team of investigators that can verify the actual presence of the spirits or entities hoped for. If the seller declines, it can probably be safe to conclude that they are duping the buyer.

Everyday, new videos go up on the internet showing some sort of paranormal activity ‘caught on camera’, however, many of them can be proven as fake or at the very least, questionable. Every type of paranormal occurrence can easily be faked. Whether it’s a visible ghost, poltergeist activity or EVP’s, technology allows even amateurs to create a seemingly real experience this day in age. Of course, I don’t want to encourage this sort of behavior so I don’t feel it’s right to explain just how simple it is, however, it isn’t hard to figure out. Even fans of some of the most popular paranormal themed series can point out when certain images, sounds or events during an episode’s investigation, could have in fact been a hoax and this is the same for real estate which is a ‘buyer beware’ situation to the extreme. Simply allowing the buyer to present their own evidence cannot be trusted as enough. Even in scenarios where they’ve had a local paranormal group ‘certify’ the home as haunted, its worth the buyer’s time, and money if necessary, to involve a second group to verify the claims of the first. After all, as sad as it is, the first group could in fact be easily bribed for a ‘certificate of paranormal authenticity’.

Additionally, an experienced paranormal investigation will do its due diligence to verify other information about the property such as it’s relation to any known electromagnetic pockets, history of deaths at the location or other events that could draw in more or less spiritual activity, the mental health status of the current owner or occupant and how long the activity has been known to occur in the residence. In certain cases, a resident may in fact truly be experiencing strong paranormal activity in their home that may just leave the residence and follow them to their new home. If a buyer is seeking to buy a home for the activity itself, they may be sorely disappointed to find out the activity was simply attached to the seller and is no longer present when they’ve moved on, leaving the buyer with just your average home, even if the activity was verifiable. If it can be proved that the activity has been present through multiple owners and tenants, then you may have a real gem on your hands!

All that being said, it’s not as if you can walk into your local real estate office and ask to be shown haunted homes in your area. Chances are you’d be laughed right out of their office. Sadly, while there are laws in place stating that sellers and agents must disclose things of this nature to the buyer, most choose not to advertise it in the actual listing and there are still sellers who fear their home won’t sell and so on both ends, buyers wishing not to purchase a haunted home may still end up getting more than they paid for in the end.

So where do you go to find these specialty buys? Have no fear, the internet is here! With some very minimal research, buyers and sellers will find many resources available to them. A quick search brought up San Diego Paranormal Research which offers a list of buyers and sellers of paranormal property throughout the USA, Mike Hunter of Coldwell Banker (Massachusetts) and Grace Gorenflo of Carleton Realty (Ohio), both individual agents serving buyers and sellers of haunted realty. Dig a little deeper and add a couple of location keywords and you can really narrow down your search with agent listings and even newspaper articles and blogs about current listings that have drawn in media attention.

Overall, this is a niche market and you will find a reciprocating party. Some properties will have drastically reduced prices, and others will have over inflated prices, but as with any other real estate, you need to find the right agent. One that is honest, ghost friendly and knowledgeable in the local laws and terms used for these kinds of properties in your area.

Paranormal Utopia is also now starting our own listing and request section of the website so if you have a property to sell, or are on the lookout for something with ghostly activity, frequent UFO sightings or even abductions, maybe even Bigfoot roams through the backyard… we want to know about it! Submit your paranormal home listing or add your home request and let us help you.