Unreal estate: This is how a haunted house can affect property values

One out of six homeowners in the United States believe that their house is haunted. The number goes up to 42% when you take into account people who claim to have gone through supernatural experiences at home. Real or not, it has an undeniable effect on your finances.

A study made by AllStar Home has made clear that in the US real estate market, ghost stories, beyond supernatural influence, have a very real value.

You might believe that the sound of chains across the corridor or mysterious voices in the middle of the night could repel any potential buyer, but you would be wrong.

In a 2022 New York Times article titled 'How to Live with a Ghost', Sharon Hill writes that movies, TV shows, and books have made the idea of sharing your home with a spirit an unexpected appeal.

Author Sharon Hill argues that such a ghostly presence can be comforting, as a way to “to connect to the past or a sense of enchantment in the everyday world”.

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How does this affect a real estate market full of overpriced homes? Well, Forbes reports that haunted houses can be 25% less expensive than their non-cursed counterparts.

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It's no surprise that, as the website of insurance company Assurance explains, creaking floorboards and many of the things we associate with so-called haunted homes tends to do more with lack of maintenance than a Poltergeist.

However, newer generations have no problem moving into a supposedly haunted house. Others who can afford such investment tend to renovate such properties, which seems the best way to chase those spooks away.

These two elements seem to play each other perfectly on the real estate market. On one hand, there are desperate realtors seeking to sell old, devalued properties with a shady past.

On the other hand, there are newer generations that have no problem, or might even enjoy the quirk, of inhabiting a so-called haunted house, particularly in such a difficult market.

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And who's the real winner? Real estate agencies, probably. Now they can sit back and relax as previously problematic properties get taken off their hands like candy on Halloween.

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However, the knowledge that you're living in a haunted house depends on where you are. Some US states, such as Minnesota, don't require the agency to inform you if you're acquiring a hexed house.

Meanwhile, in US states such as South Dakota and California, this type of information is required to be disclosed to potential buyers.

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Would you be capable of living in a haunted house? Wouldn't you mind knowing you're living over a cursed burial ground? Well, they say home is where the heart is, but nobody said it has to be your heart!

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