Imagine this scenario……you have been looking and looking for that special house, the one you can finally call your own. You have looked at so many houses your Realtor has sent out an SOS distress call, thinking you never will find a house. The images you have created along with your budget just don’t co-exist. Then just over the next hill, the sun shines and the music begins to play. There it is. You have just found that house you can call your own.

Just as you begin to visualize where the furniture will go and how many things you must do in the next 30 days, you receive the following disclosure…. “Someone died in the house”.

Now what?

There is usually a rebuttal to most any objection that someone has. Many times they refer to a lack of understanding or misconception that might exist. This one however does not. It is just such a personal issue and how someone perceives it should not be open to discussion.

Understandably, this information may create an array of emotions that teeter back and forth for a few days. There are a couple of things you can hopefully find out to decide if this is still the house for you:

1. What were the circumstances? – the manner in which the deceased departed will more than likely have a bearing on your eventual decision. Did the person pass peacefully from natural causes or was tragedy involved?
2. Where in the house did it occur? – If you are still in the transaction after answering the first question, chances are this will be the follow up.

According to this study, most people with a terminal illness choose to be at home when that time comes. Almost anything in a real estate transaction can be fixed, repaired, replaced, torn down, credited or removed. I had a boss once who said “You can get anything done for money”. This is one of those rare instances when you simply can’t.

There is no other advice you can seek, no other research you can do and nobody else’s opinion that matters. All that really counts is what you think.

Tags: Buying a house when someone has died, death occurring on the property