North Shore Views

Selling a Haunted House: Is Disclosure Required in Illinois?

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

This old Scottish prayer could just as well be the home buyer’s prayer. Because, despite strict disclosure laws in most states, home buyers sometimes end up with more than they bargained for. While sellers must disclose material defects in the property, most states do not require them to disclose information such as whether a murder or suicide has taken place in the home, or whether there is rumored paranormal activity.

The Illinois Real Property Disclosure Report form requires a seller to answer 22 questions about known material defects on the property. A material defect is defined as a condition that would cause substantive adverse effects on the property’s value or pose a significant hazard to future occupants of the property. The disclosure form includes questions about structural problems, mechanical and electrical defects, flooding, lead paint, radon, presence of an underground fuel tank and even whether the property has been used as a meth lab. (The manufacture of methamphetamines leaves behind invisible residue to which exposure can lead to organ damage, cancer and other health problems, especially in children).

Whether things like murder, suicide or the presence of ghosts and poltergeists constitute material defects is the subject of much debate. True, they are not material defects: they have no effect on the functionality of the house. However, the presence of one or more of these “stigmas” can reduce the property’s perceived value in the eyes of the public. Therefore, ethically you have a responsibility to disclose it.

Realtor Magazine offered the following advice for home owners who may have a “stigmatized” property to sell: “After you’ve confirmed that the reasons for a stigma are factual, ask yourself if knowledge of the stigma would affect the willingness of a reasonable person to buy the property or would change the amount that person was willing to pay. Stigmas aren’t always easy to classify, so use your best judgment.”

Besides, for some buyers, being haunted actually increases the desirability of a house.

Related articles:

• North Shore Haunts: The Schweppe Mansion
• Proof There’s a Buyer for Every House…at the Right Price

Tags: haunted houses

North Shore Haunts: The Schweppe Mansion

Not long ago I included the Schweppe Mansion in my post about the top ten priciest properties for sale on the North Shore.

What I didn’t mention is that the Lake Forest home was, at one time, reputed to be haunted. With Halloween right around the corner, it seemed like the time to tell its spooky story. Here’s the background: The house was built in 1917 by John G. Shedd (president of Marshall Field and Company and founder of the Shedd Aquarium) as a wedding gift for his daughter, Laura, upon her marriage to Charles Schweppe. But Laura died in 1937, leaving a lonely and tormented Charles to roam the 33,000 sq. ft. mansion for the next four years. Charles ultimately killed himself with a bullet to the head, and the house stood empty for the next 47 years.

Although ghosts have never actually been sighted here, rumors of Charles’ ghost haunting the master bedroom spread throughout the area. and the abandoned mansion had all the makings of a haunted house, especially some its more bizarre features. One was a lone window overlooking the driveway, which never needed cleaning, even when the rest of the house was covered in dirt and grime. The other strange feature , discovered by Donna Desplenter when she bought the house in the 1980s, was the “doorway to hell”, an entryway in the basement that led only to narrow, black corridors turning into other dark, winding passageways, leading only to dead-ends and desolate rooms.

The house was finally purchased and completely renovated and restored. No paranormal activity has been reported for many years. The house is for sale now and can be yours for a mere $15,000,000.

Tags: haunted houses

Proof there’s a buyer for every house…at the right price

Do you remember that bizarre story about the Evanston woman who was living in her house with the bodies of her dead siblings?

As I recall, the bodies of her two sisters and brother were discovered in the fall of 2008 after a neighbor became concerned because she had not seen the woman’s sister around lately. When the police went into the house they discovered the body of one sister, who had been dead for 30 years, the body of the brother, who died in 2003, and the body of the other sister, who had died recently (all of natural causes).

Today there was a story in Crain’s saying that someone has actually bought that house (the owner has moved into a nursing home).  An Evanston couple made an offer on it just one week after it was put on the market. They knew about its gruesome past but were undeterred. It’s a pretty 1890s-era house in east Evanston and I guess once it’s gutted and redone  the new owners won’t find it so creepy.

Until the deal closes we won’t know how much they paid, but presumably they got a good deal. It just goes to show that, at the right price, every house will sell…even in this market.

Tags: haunted houses, pricing your house to sell, Strange real estate stories