With Halloween around the corner, there is more attention being given to haunted houses – and the trick-or-treaters over at Real Estate Witch, an online publication owned by Clever Real Estate, has put out a new survey regarding creepy old residences.
According to this survey, roughly of Americans (52%) would consider buying a house that was haunted – but two-thirds (68%) would make an offer below the asking price and one-third (32%) expect such a property to sell for less than market value.
Interestingly, two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents believe it is the government’s job to require sales disclosures that house is haunted – to date, only four states actually have specific laws requiring those disclosures.
About 1 in 5 Americans (19%) believe they’ve lived in a home that was haunted, with 30% of Gen Z and 24% of millennials saying they have, compared to just 10% of boomers. Among that group, 63% said it would be harder to sell that type of house if buyers were aware that it was haunted, with 68% claiming they would not willingly disclose the haunting to potential buyers.
Nonetheless 41% of haunted house owners expect to sell above market value — more than 2.5 times the 16% of buyers who say they’d make such an offer on a haunted home.
Still, half of Americans would rather live with ghostly spirits and paranormal occupants than a hoarder (50%) or someone with bad body odor (49%). Go figure.
Photo: Sunshine Sammy Morrison and Bela Lugosi in “Ghosts on the Loose (1941), courtesy of Cinema-Crazed.com.
