Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff. Lauren Bogebaum here. Helen Ackley and her
Speaker 1: family lived with ghosts for years in their turn of
Speaker 1: the century Victorian in upstate New York. One ghost would
Speaker 1: shake the children's beds to wake them up in the morning.
Speaker 1: Another materialized in midair as Helen was painting the ceiling
Speaker 1: of her living room and apparently approved of her color choice.
Speaker 1: Her son once came face to face with a long
Speaker 1: deceased Navy lieutenant outside the basement door. The Acquis didn't
Speaker 1: keep their spectral guests a secret. Helen was quoted in
Speaker 1: newspaper stories and the Reader's Digest about the family ghosts,
Speaker 1: and the home in Nyack was included on the town's
Speaker 1: Haunted House Tour. Everyone knew that the Acqui place was possessed,
Speaker 1: everyone apparently except Jeffrey Stambowski. In nine Stambofsky, a transplant
Speaker 1: from New York's City, bought the Acquis Victorian mansion for
Speaker 1: six d and fifty thousand dollars without any knowledge that
Speaker 1: the place was famously riddled with ghosts. When his new
Speaker 1: neighbors clued him in, Stambofsky took the acquees to court
Speaker 1: to cancel the contract and get his money back. In
Speaker 1: the first trial, the judge denied Stambofsky's claim, citing caveat
Speaker 1: emper let the buyer beware, but an appeals court in
Speaker 1: New York reversed the decision, ordering Akli to return Stambofsky's
Speaker 1: money in a colorful ruling that included ghostly quotes from
Speaker 1: Hamlet and reference to the movie Ghostbusters. The court wrote,
Speaker 1: in part, whether the source of the spectral apparitions seen
Speaker 1: by defendant seller are parapsychic or psychogenic, having reported their
Speaker 1: presence in both a national publication Reader's Digest and the
Speaker 1: local press in nine and n two, respectively, the defendant
Speaker 1: is a stopped that is prevented from going back on
Speaker 1: her word to deny their existence, and as a matter
Speaker 1: of law, the house is haunted. According to recent surveys,
Speaker 1: eighteen percent of Americans say that they've seen or been
Speaker 1: in the presence of a ghost, and about a third
Speaker 1: of Americans believe that haunted houses are real. Since Jeffreys
Speaker 1: Tambofsky bowed out, Helen Accley's house has attracted several celebrity owners,
Speaker 1: although there haven't been any reported ghostly sightings in many years.
Speaker 1: It was last sold in March for one million, seven
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety five thousand dollars. When a house goes
Speaker 1: on the market, nearly all states require the seller to
Speaker 1: fill out a disclosure form reporting any known structural problems,
Speaker 1: environmental toxins, or other material facts that could affect the
Speaker 1: value of the home. But does that go for ghouls too.
Speaker 1: There are currently no states that require home sellers to
Speaker 1: voluntarily disclose alleged ghostly activities on the property before a sale.
Speaker 1: In fact, only Minnesota even mentions haunteds and its disclosure law,
Speaker 1: which freeze sellers from having to disclose any non material facts,
Speaker 1: including if the home was the site of perceived paranormal activity.
Speaker 1: But that doesn't mean that haunted house sellers are home free.
Speaker 1: The actuly verdict, while not officially state law, set an
Speaker 1: important precedent. The court ruled that by not disclosing the
Speaker 1: high profile haunting to the buyer it quote impaired both
Speaker 1: the value of the property and its potential for resale.
Speaker 1: For the article of this episode is based on How
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. Spoke with Cindy Hagley, a California real estate
Speaker 1: broker with the Hagley Group and president of Past Life Homes,
Speaker 1: a consulting business that helps haunted homeowners sell their bedevilled properties.
Speaker 1: In general, Hagley airs on the side of caution when
Speaker 1: it comes to seller disclosures. She said, if it affects
Speaker 1: the material value of the home, it must be disclosed.
Speaker 1: That said, Hagley will only disclose a haunting if it's
Speaker 1: open and notorious, meaning that there have been multiple sightings
Speaker 1: and all the neighbors know about it. In real estate, lingo,
Speaker 1: homes that are rumored to be haunted or where the
Speaker 1: site of a high profile murder or meth lab are
Speaker 1: known as stigmatized, as seen in the actly case. The
Speaker 1: negative notoriety of a stigmatized home could affect the value
Speaker 1: of the property, But if the haunting isn't notorious and
Speaker 1: only the owners think they've seen or heard something spooky,
Speaker 1: Hagley might not say anything. She explained. Sometimes a person
Speaker 1: will call me and say, hey, my house is haunted
Speaker 1: and I need to sell. Will you help me. I'm
Speaker 1: kind of sensitive to these things myself, so if I
Speaker 1: walk into a home and there's nothing there, I won't
Speaker 1: disclose it. Even if your state doesn't force you to
Speaker 1: disclose the mysterious scraping noises behind the walls or the
Speaker 1: intermittent moaning in the basement. Sellers and their agents are
Speaker 1: required to answer honestly when directly asked to question about
Speaker 1: the property, So if asked specifically whether a house is haunted,
Speaker 1: the seller or the agent has to answer truthfully to
Speaker 1: the best of their knowledge about any encounters with spectral
Speaker 1: entities and people do ask. Of course, ghosts aren't the
Speaker 1: only thing that can scare off potential buyers. A lot
Speaker 1: of people are understandably creeped out at the thought of
Speaker 1: moving into a home where someone recently died or that
Speaker 1: was the site of a tragic or violent death, even
Speaker 1: one that occurred decades ago. So do sellers need to
Speaker 1: disclose if their property is psychologically affected? Again, the law
Speaker 1: is generally on the seller's side. Only Alaska, California, and
Speaker 1: South Dakota's disclosure laws explicitly say that sellers need to
Speaker 1: voluntarily disclose a recent death. In Alaska, the disclosure only
Speaker 1: covers deaths that occurred in the past year, while California
Speaker 1: goes back three years. In South Dakota, there's a slightly
Speaker 1: gruesome question way down at the bottom of the state's
Speaker 1: disclosure form that needs since you have owned the property,
Speaker 1: are you aware of a human death by homicide or
Speaker 1: suicide occurring on the property. In all states, though, if
Speaker 1: a buyer asks about a death in the home, the
Speaker 1: seller again has a duty to respond truthfully to the
Speaker 1: best of their knowledge. Haguley said, if the buyer asks
Speaker 1: what happened, I believe you should tell them everything you know,
Speaker 1: because if the real estate agent doesn't, the neighbors certainly will.
Speaker 1: When Hagueley's team is tasked with selling a home that
Speaker 1: was the site of a high profile murder, they'll completely
Speaker 1: redecorate the room of the crime scene and shift the
Speaker 1: focus to other rooms. But she said when buyers walk
Speaker 1: into the home, they're not going to recognize the place
Speaker 1: from the photos that they saw on the five o'clock News.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article do you have
Speaker 1: to tell buyers your house is haunted? On how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot com written by Dave Rouse. Brain Stuff is
Speaker 1: production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Playing.
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