I was part of a confirmation class at my Lutheran grade school when someone asked the pastor, "do you believe in ghosts?"
"No," he thundered in a deep, pastoral voice. "I've done thousands of funerals and not once has someone come back to thank me!"
Here's my personal paradox: I also don't believe in ghosts. But I wouldn't buy a haunted house. Why? I think I'd THINK about it too much. Am I like MOST people?
According to a poll by Realtor.com, when confronted with the possibility of buying a haunted home, buyers tend to fall into three categories:
- 18% of people wouldn’t be affected by a haunted home when making a decision to purchase a place, while that number goes up to almost 25% for those 35 to 54.
- Then there are the people who would be willing to buy a haunted house if they get something in return, with 15% willing to buy it if the price was cheaper, while 9% would buy it if it had a larger kitchen or was in a better neighborhood.
- But for some haunted is something they just can’t deal with, with 49% of buyers saying there’s absolutely nothing that would convince them to buy a haunted home, with 61% of buyers over 55 falling into this category.
And while you may think haunted houses aren’t all that common, it turns out quite a lot of people believe they’ve lived in one. In fact, 40% of people say they believe they've lived in a haunted, or possibly haunted home, while 44% say they either suspected or knew it was haunted before they moved in. As for how they knew it was haunted, 55% say they heard strange noises, while 45% felt odd feelings in certain rooms, and 34% reported erratic behavior in their pets.
- So, should sellers actually inform buyers that a house may be haunted? Well, 34% of people would, while 27% would but only if asked, and 22% would say nothing at all.
So...would YOU buy a house if you were informed it was haunted?