Field Guide to Dealing With Stigmatized Properties
(Updated August 2008)
Do you dare disclose if there is murder or mayhem at your listing? What are the professional and logistical challenges if there is a well publicized ghost on your next property? Don't despair, help is here! This page offers some creative marketing tools and advice for selling properties with an unsavory past. (A. Siudzinski, Information Specialist)
Determine if the stigma is truthful
Be sure to check state laws
Determine if the stigma would change the property price or even the buyers willingness to purchase the property
Discuss the disclosure with the sellers
Disclose stigmas that are determined to be factual
Source: Property Marketing Toolkit: Property Disclosure, (REALTOR® Magazine Online).
Stigmatized Property Basics 
Can you sell a stigmatize/haunted home?, (ActiveRain, Feb. 7, 2008).
Casper the lonely ghost: buyers don't want haunted houses, (Illinois Business Law Journal, Oct. 1, 2007).
Tips for sealing the deal on troubled real estate, (Arizona Real Estate, Aug. 1, 2007).
4 steps in dealing with stigmatized property, (REALTOR® Magazine, Mar. 2007).
Property Disclosure: Stigmatized Properties, (REALTOR® Magazine Online).
How to sell a house of horrors, (ABC News, May 5, 2006).
Selling haunted land? Don't spread ghost stories, (www.bankrate.com, Dec. 23, 2006).
Stigma and Property Value
Get a bargain on a stigmatized property, (www.frontdoor.com, July 28, 2008).
JonBenet house on market for $2.86 million; take a tour, (Rocky Mountain News, July 3, 2008).
The Scandal Effect, (Wall Street Journal, Aug. 4, 2006). Q
Appraising tragedy, (Style Weekly, Feb. 1, 2006).
A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Environmental Contamination and Positive Amenities on Residential Real Estate Values, (The Journal of Real Estate Research, Jan.-Mar. 2006). Q
The cost of death: Disclosing a house's sad past is the law, and it could lower the property's value, (Silicon Valley Business Journal, Oct. 3, 2004).
Ghostly occupants, well-publicized murder case can drop a property's value by up to 35%, (Business First Columbus, Nov. 5, 2001).
Estimating economic damages to real property due to loss of marketability, rentability, and stigma, (The Appraisal Journal, Apr. 2000). Q
The impact of detrimental conditions on property values, (The Appraisal Journal, Oct. 1999). Q
Deciding What to Disclose
Disclose, disclose, disclose, (Realty Times, July 2, 2008).
One person's stigma could be another's selling point, (Mortgage News Daily, May 11, 2007).
For sale. . .again, (Fort Worth Business Press, Aug. 14, 2006).
Murder, mayhem and mortgages, (Bankrate.com, Jan. 1, 2005).
Haunted sales, (REALTOR® Magazine, Dec. 2003). Q
Put stigmas in their place, (REALTOR® Magazine, Dec. 2000). Q
Books, eBooks & Other Resources
eBooks.realtor.org
The following ebooks and digital audiobooks are available to NAR members:
Homeowners' Legal Bible (Adobe eReader)
Home Buyers' Checklist (Adobe eReader)
Books, Videos, Research Reports & More
The resources below are available for loan through Information Central. Up to three books, tapes, CDs and/or DVDs can be borrowed for 30 days from the Library for a nominal fee of $10. Call Information Central at 800.874.6500 for assistance.
Death and disclosure: legal strategies for dealing with stigmatized properties, (October Research Corporation, 2007).
An examination of stigmatized housing in Ohio, (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University, 2000).
Real estate damages: An analysis of detrimental conditions, (Chicago, IL: Appraisal Institute, 1999).
Appraising the tough ones: Creative ways to value complex residential properties, (Chicago, IL: Appraisal Institute, 1996).
Fear (as a measure of damages) strikes out: Two case studies, (Storrs, CT: Real Estate Counseling Group of Connecticut, Apr. 1994).
Field Guides & More
These Field Guides and other resources in the Virtual Library may also be of interest:
Field Guide to REALTOR® Safety
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