A new site lets you search this question …
Yesturday was Halloween and I hope you all had a nice and “sweet” one. One of the lenders I use sent me this tid bit in honor of Halloween and I thought it was pretty interesting. So many times I have been asked “Do you know if anyone died here”? Unless the seller discloses that information on what is referred to as a Form 17; I have no idea. However, if it’s an Estate sale then its a pretty darn good assumption someone did.
Now there is a site that answers this question. Yes, there is a small fee but for those that just have to know it might be worth it.
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| Manressa Castle – Port Townsend, WA |
Story behind the site :
A Text in the night put Roy Condrey on the trail of the dead.
“Did you know that your house is haunted?” read the letters glowing on his screen. It wasn’t a message from beyond, but rather came from one of the tenants in the properties he rents out to supplement his income as a software project manager.
But the text got him pondering: Even if you suspected you had a paranormal force inhabiting your home, how could you tell if someone died in it?
Thus was Diedinhouse.com born. The site cross references between public records and other databases to find who used to live in a particular U.S. address, whether they’re alive or not, and if they died while in the house. It can tell prospective homebuyers information the seller isn’t obligated to disclose, which can sometimes lower a house’s final price.
The night the idea was germinating, Condrey sat in front of the computer and began searching for answers. He discovered it’s not that easy to electronically dig up a body under your roof.
From one source he could get a list of everyone who lived in the house. Then he had to check each name against another list to see if they were alive. Other databases and searches could turn up clues as to whether their death happened at the address itself. Few states require sellers to disclose if anyone died in the home, even if it was a murder-suicide that everyone else in the neighborhood knows about. By and large, it’s let the buyer beware … of ghosts.
In that informational void Condrey saw opportunity. He grabbed a few programmer pals, and in June of this year his websitewas spawned. In the first five months, it sold a few thousand reports for $11.99 per U.S. address searched.
A few Halloween-minded media mentions later and it’s now selling a thousand per day…..go figure ~
Jen Murrweiss RE/MAX Elite 