Boo! Did we scare you? Happy Halloween, everyone! Halloween is a season of ghosts, goblins, and spooky haunted houses. But what about haunted houses that could be active all year?

It's that time of year again when getting spooked and visiting scary attractions and rides is fun. What if you were terrified in your own home? Would you buy a haunted house and live in it?

What If You Are Getting A Good Deal?

People are willing to compromise on just about anything if they get the price right. In light of the competitive real estate market, a survey found that 73 percent of Americans would consider purchasing a haunted house, with 52 percent saying they would not pay full market value if they did. While 48% of Americans indicated they would choose to live in a haunted house over living in a home within a mile of a dump (Real Estate Market, 2021 Data).

If home buyers get a lower price, additional bedrooms, a better neighborhood which they couldn't afford otherwise, a friendly (not-so-friendly) ghost in the attic wouldn’t bother them much according to reports.

How Do I Tell If The House Is Haunted?

Is there a unique aesthetic to a haunted house, or is it just named that because it appears scary? People also believe the house is haunted after hearing things like ""the house is on a 100-year-old cemetery"" and ""someone died here in the house, not from natural cause."" You should have more facts than that to believe that there is a ghost in the attic.

According to the survey, respondents reported strange encounters and experiences that led them to assume the house was haunted. 64 percent of respondents reported hearing strange noises, 60 percent reported feeling touched, 56 percent reported seeing ghosts, and 55 percent reported cold places in their homes (Real Estate Market, 2021 data).

There are many people who genuinely feel their homes are haunted, but they didn't necessarily have any of the circumstances above. Their accounts ranged from unexplainable footprints to young toddlers ""seeing people"" that the grownups couldn't, as well as trickery like food being moved or put back in the refrigerator.

Well, whatever your beliefs about ghosts are, it appears that some houses have a lot more strange and unexplained activity than others. And it seems that such activity picks up at night, precisely when you're all set to go to bed. So, how would you find out if a house you're interested in has any such tendencies?

• Ask The Seller To Disclose

If you're on the market for a home and have your eye on a particular property, you undoubtedly want to know if plates will fly around the kitchen when you are cooking, or if a bloodstain will appear on your clothes every third day, or do you have to run back in the bedroom screaming after an encounter with a ghost. However, the term ""haunted"" is unlikely to appear in any real estate disclosures. Sellers would less likely disclose a paranormal activity because not everyone believes a home can be haunted or that ghosts even exist.

Some sellers might disclose in a way that doesn’t seem to be an issue. It's a frequent misperception that a home's sellers must disclose whether or not the property is haunted. Many states have a long list of items that sellers must disclose, ranging from roof leaks to collapsing foundations. In some cases, no explicit disclosures are necessary regarding hauntings. Buyers frequently engage a house inspector to find physical flaws that the sellers were unaware of or failed to reveal. However, the majority of paranormal events have psychological rather than physical impacts. Perhaps this is why only about half of the states have stigma laws at all, and most of them are meant to minimize what sellers must disclose. There are, however, exceptions. When asked about a flaw, sellers in most states are not allowed to mislead explicitly. If you asked directly about ghosts, they would have to tell you if they knew anything about a ghost or even rumors. Remember, sellers, are required to disclose anything that a buyer would find relevant in making their decision to purchase the home.

• Ask A Neighbor

You don't want to creep out your neighbor by inquiring about ghostly activity, but a few questions aren’t going to hurt anyone. You can generally inquire about the house's history or whether it is a pleasant area to live in.

• Try Searching Online!

It is always a good idea to search on your own online, look up the address of the property and even previous owners. You may be surprised at some of the histories of your property that may come up. Many times there are interesting articles or previous listings that will show interesting history about the property. Someone who may have lived there or listed the property previously may have published a piece about haunted experiences in the house in a magazine, or an agent may have written a blog about it. Particularly, if you reside in an older home, the history of your home may contain some spooky tales or even some fun unexpected stories. You can learn more than you bargained for if you look into prior proprietors and the history of the area.

Happy Halloween!

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