Selling a Haunted Home? Here Are Your Legal Obligations in Michigan

Are you legally required to disclose your home may be haunted when selling in Michigan?

I just watched the '90s Casper movie starring Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman for my first time as an adult, and I have some questions.

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Have you ever gone back to watch some of your favorite childhood movies as an adult only to come out with a wildly new perspective? That's what happened to me while watching Casper.

Now, I've never had a ghostly encounter myself but I'm open to the experience but watching this young girl and her father share a house with four ghosts got me wondering about the logistics of selling a haunted house once you've decided enough is enough.

How does one go about selling a house they truly believe is haunted? Is it just like the movies when an unsuspecting new family buys their first home but the deal is too good to be true?

Stigmatized Properties

Caron Koteles Riha, Associate Broker with Michigan's Real Estate One, says having grown up in a small town she's used to old historical homes and all their "quirks". They're referred to as "stigmatized properties" and every state has different rules regarding selling them-- or sometimes no rules at all.

The general rule is that while buyers are obligated to do their due diligence when researching and purchasing a home, real estate agents are morally obligated to disclose any material defects in the home.

So, is a death or murder considered a material defect? Some say yes, while others say no.

Riha says in states like Alaska and South Dakota sellers are required to disclose a homicide or suicide that occurred within the home in the past 12 months, while California law ups the timeframe to the past 3 years.

Other states, such as Michigan, have specific statutes on the books that don’t require the seller to disclose anything about whether the property is stigmatized.

Is there a checkbox for "ghosts" on the Michigan Seller Disclosure Statement?