Selling your home? Know what you must disclose (hint: ghosts are death are included included)

Think you have a ghost? Indiana doesn’t require you to tell potential buyers

By Laura Musall, for the Indianapolis Star

When serial Herbert Baumeister’s home was listed for sale in Westfield, there was no mention that human remains were found on the property, or that investigators suspect Baumeister killed at least 25 people and buried them on the northside property in the 1990s.

 The property has been listed for sale several times over the past decade, and each touted the 18 acres of wooded, rolling grounds, the five-car detached garage, horse stables and an indoor pool. There’s no mention that one man escaped from inside that pool, telling investigators Baumeister tried to kill him there.

 According to Indiana real estate laws, the owner of the estate isn’t required to disclose the history of the property, or that more than 10,000 human bone fragments have been recovered on the property.

 When you sell a home in Indiana (and most states), you’re required to disclose structural or physical defects to prospective buyers. If your water heater doesn’t work, you’re required to disclose that. If your roof or basement leaks, disclose it. If you know about mold in your house, or if your house has ever been treated for mold, you’ve got to disclose that, too. But, if someone died in the house, was killed in the house, or if your house is haunted, no need to tell prospective buyers.

 The general rule is “caveat emptor,” or “buyer beware.” It puts the burden on the buyer to conduct their due diligence when buying a property. In the mid-1990s, Indiana began requiring sellers to complete a seller’s disclosure. This two-page form requires sellers to disclose all kinds of things such as the age of the roof, whether there are issues with the foundation, mechanicals, plumbing and other components of the house. You must disclose if the house is within a mile of an airport, but not if the backyard was used as a burial ground.

 Places where bad things have happened, like the former Baumeister estate, are considered stigmatized properties or psychologically affected properties.

 Here’s the caveat: If a prospective buyer asks if someone died in the house, the seller is obligated to tell.

 Some sellers do not know the history of the house. For example, a home that’s been foreclosed on, may have been purchased from a bank or at auction.

 Several years ago, I showed a home that was owned by the bank after a foreclosure. There was what appeared to be blood splatters on the kitchen ceiling, there were holes in the wall that looked like lots of bad things had happened in the house.

 Unlike Indiana, nine states require sellers to disclose a death on a property. In California, sellers must disclose a death on the property within three years. In Alaska, a death within a year has to be disclosed, and in South Dakota, sellers have to disclose whether there’s been a homicide on the property.

 Several years ago, Indiana began requiring sellers to disclose whether meth had been manufactured in the house. That’s good information for a buyer to know. The one addition I wish Indiana would make would be adding whether the occupants smoked in the house. Dead bodies can be removed, so you’d never suspect they were there. Smoke lingers for years, and it’s one thing that can send buyers running from a house faster than if they’d seen a ghost.

 Realtor Laura Musall with the F.C. Tucker Company writes a monthly article in the Indianapolis Star about the Indianapolis area real estate market.