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Short Stuff: Haunted Real Estate · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh. There's Chuck.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is Josh talking, and there's Chuck sitting there waiting
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: on standby to launch this short stuff about real estate.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: But wait, wait scary real estate. Yeah, and this is
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: one that you were pretty convinced we had done before.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: We may have talked about it, I think I but
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I cannot, for the life of me figure out where
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Like we don't have We've never done an episode on
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: selling your house. We've never done one on haunted houses,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: like we've done haunted house attractions, we did ghosts. But
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know where this would have come up. Yeah,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: someone will know. Yeah, they'll be like, you guys really
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: screwed up again. This time you did a short stuff
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: with something you've done already. I quit. How could you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: be such idiots? I'll never listen to you, and I
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: question everything you say from now on and everything you've
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: ever said, and stopped being so liberal. I hate you.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Stop talking about politics. Oh man, election, Your emails have
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: been fun. But this is about something else. This is
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: uh the scary season, and this is about something that
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I was kind of curious of, uh, not that I've
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: ever looked at a haunted house. But I just kind
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of wondered if your house is haunted, or at least
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: you think it is, and you believe in that kind
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: of thing, if you have to tell a potential home buyer,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: if you have to disclose that, like, you know, the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: basement links some the windows are fairly drafty, and there's
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a spectrum the third floor. What excuse me, I didn't
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: catch that? Did you say a specter? The specter says, what, Yeah,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: so your house is pretty old. Do you suspect it's haunted? No,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: although it's funny you mentioned that last week. They were
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: like there was one night where a few weird things
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: happened and they weren't like noises. They were just like
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, something would be in a weird
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: part of the house. Or uh, there were just a
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: few I can't remember what they were, but three very
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: not intuitive placements of things where I was like, did
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: you put this there? And it's like, uh what? And
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: then suddenly you guys look like little or Fananny with
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: cartoon sweat jumping off your foreheads and your pupils were gone. Maybe,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: but and you know what kind of laugh We're like,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: is this house haunted, but I think after, you know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: thirteen or fourteen years, we would have seen something by now.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: So so I agreed, And sorry to get off truck
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: because I know this is short. So, but have you
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: watched The Haunting of bly Manner yet? Oh? My god,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: is it really scary? Maybe the best of the best
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: anyone's ever put to film. It's so well done. It's
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: so great. And I wasn't a fan of the Haunting
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of hill House. This is everything you wanted the Haunting
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of hill House and basically every ghost movie or TV
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: show to be. It's so good man, you're going to
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: love it. I put it on par with like the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: others and the Orphanage. Um, it's just beautifully done. Okay, awesome,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I'll check it out. Okay, I didn't see the other one. Yeah,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I watched a little of it and then just kind
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of stopped. But but check this one out. Okay, all right. So,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: so the question you posed was if you think your
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: house is haunted, do you have to disclose it? And
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the short answer is no, you don't have to disclose it.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: But the longer answer is, if you don't disclose it,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: and you actually do think your house is haunted and
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: everybody else thinks your house is haunted, then you could
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: actually get sued if the person you sold your house
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: to finds out that the house is haunted and decides
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: they don't want to own a haunted house, and you
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: might have to give their money back. And now you
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: own two houses, the one you bought after you sold
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: that house and the one you sold originally. And that's
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: actually based on case law from the ninety eighties in
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: New York, isn't it. Yeah, there was a woman named
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Helen Actley, and she and her family lived in an
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: old Victorian an upstate New York. And she claimed that
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: they had ghosts there and she didn't keep it quiet.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: She was in the newspaper, she was in reader's digest.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: She kind of talked to anyone who would listen about
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: they were on the ghost tour of the town. And uh,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: everybody knew this, I guess except for the guy that
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: bought it one, Jeffrey Stambowski. And in nine he came
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: from New York City bought the place for a tidy
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: sum of six and fifty grand. Back in the eighties,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: there was a lot. Yeah, totally, I mean, this must
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: be quite a house, and then the neighbors were like, oh,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: so you bought the old haunted actually place and he
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: was like what and he got mad and uh sued
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and originally the judge said no, sorry, it's kind of
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: buy or beware, and then that was overturned in an appeal.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And I think you should read the part of the
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: decision there. It's pretty good. Okay, this is me doing
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: an appeals court judge from New York reversing the decision
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: in Stambovski versus Actley. Okay, yes, whether the source of
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the spectral apparitions seen by defendant Sela a parapsychic or psychogenic.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Having reported the presence in both a national publication Rioto's
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Darn Dressed and the local press in nine and two, respectively,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: wrote the court defendant is stopped prevented from going back
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: on our word to deny their existence, and as a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: matter of law, the house is haunted. So for those
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: of you listening, this is just a little preview of
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: what's to come for our annual Halloween episode. I'm down
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: to one accent. Basically, I got one accent. He's doing
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: accents now, everybody twelve years in, I'm doing accent. It's
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the best news that I've had in a long time.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Jash is doing accent. Well, I was doing it for
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the Halloween episode, and I just thought I'd trot it
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: out for this. Yeah, because in real time we just
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: read that. But this will serve as a little teaser.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: So just hold onto your hats for that one, everyone,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: And in fact, maybe we should take a little break
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and then I can get myself together and then come
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: back right after this. Okay, So chok. That judge reversed
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the decision and staid, nope, I think you mean magistrate,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: mrs actly, you have to give that six dollars back
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: to Mr Strombovski and um Or Stanbovsky. I'm sorry. And
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: she she did, she had she was stuck with two houses. Now.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: The reason why, you know, traditionally with law, it's buyer
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: beware cavy emptor, which is basically saying like, if you
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: didn't take the time to examine a house, um you
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: you are it's your own fault, basically, But this this circuit,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the or the appeals court judge said, well, this is
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: a material defect. Everyone knows it's haunted. So if you
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: tried to sell it, whoever you sell it too, is
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: gonna find out it's haunted. So it's a problem unless
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: somebody wants to buy a haunted house, so it's affected,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the real estate is affected. But then secondly, you couldn't
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: possibly find this out just by examining the house, right, um,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: And so that was that it's an old Victorian and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: of state New York. You right, right, But he was
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: saying like so by or but ware doesn't doesn't um
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: doesn't apply in this situation, and actually overturned it. So
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: when he did that, there's no state laws on the book.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: There's no state. I think Zillo did a survey. There's
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: no state that says you have to disclose whether people
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: think a house is haunted or not. But because that
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: decision was made, there's now um precedence for it, and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: we can point to it when they try to see
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: other people and say, look, see other people have said
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: this is correct, so fine in our favor. Yeah. I
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: think Minnesota has UH in its disclosure law, something that
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: says you, um, it free sellers up from having to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: disclose non material facts, including if the home has any
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: perceived paranormal activity. So it is actually listed, but it's
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: listed in reverse right, like saying if your house is
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: on it, you don't have to say so. Um. And
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I think it depends on what state you're in, as
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess this is precedent in New York,
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  Speaker 1: But would that be true for everywhere? Yeah, I think
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: that that would apply in the country and possibly even
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: in other Western countries to um, because it's such a rare,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: unique ruling, I think you could cite it else right.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it would hold up, um, depending
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: on where you were, but it is legal precedents in
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the United States. Yes. Well, there's a woman named Cindy Hagley, Uh,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Cindy with an eye and she is a real estate
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: broker in California who I think she was forced to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: change the Y two and I when she became a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: real estate broker. Yes, so she get died at with
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: balloon hanging above the sign that's right, that says open house.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: She's with the Hagley Group and also president of something
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: called Past Life Homes, which is a business uh where
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: she consults to sell houses that may be haunted. And
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: her deal is She's like, listen, um, you've got to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: disclose it. In a couple of cases, if it will
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: affect the value of a home, kind of like what
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: the court case said, like, Hey, like this thing, you
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: can't sell it for as much in the future, so
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: you have to say something. Uh. That's one reason. And
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: the other reason, she says, is if it's um open
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: and notorious, like if everybody in the town knows about this,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Like if just the person that lived there said, hey,
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: there's a ghost, trust me, all this weird stuff happened.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: It's been a reader's digest. Yeah, if it's been a
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: reader's digest and it's on a ghost tour, she thinks
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: she feels like she has to disclose it. Uh. And
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the other sort of sticking point here is if someone
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: asked directly, hey, is this old spooky farmhouse haunted, then
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: you have to answer if you know something, yeah, which
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I think is pretty cool. But that's really really um,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: that's a useful thing for everybody to know when you're
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: buying a house. Just always ask. I think it's I mean,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: what the worst they could do is be like you're
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: a cuckoo, but yeah, I know. Then just just send them,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: send them our way and tell him to listen to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: this episode and they'll be like, oh, Okay, now that
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: makes sense. But what about if it's not necessarily haunted.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: What about if there was you know, if father killed
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: all of his family in their sleep one night twenty
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: years ago. Creepy chuck. So that would be something that's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: called psychologically affected real estate UM or stigmatized real estate,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: something that was like the side of a murder, a
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: meth lab um, the something that's openly and notoriously haunted,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: as are called stigmatized properties. And when it comes to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: an actual physical death, not a haunting or anything like that,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: but somebody has died in the house, especially if they've
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: died violently, whether by suicide or by homicide. There are
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: actually some states that say you have to disclose this.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Almost all states don't say you have to disclose it again,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: though you would be probably better off in the long
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: run just to cover your your bass legally afterward, to
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: disclose it after you're basically signing papers. You're like, by
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the way, you know, my grandmother died in this in
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: your bedroom, um, and then just run out the door
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: with their check. But in Alaska, California, and South Dakota,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: you actually are required to disclose it ahead of time,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: right and so if someone said is blind man or haunted,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: you would have to say, oh, yes, this is pretty
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: cool stuff it is. I love stuff like this. Um
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: so yeah, I guess The thing here is to be truthful,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: is to be honest and open about everything from homicides
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: to hauntings too. If you've been making math, you know,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: let the people know. I've been making math here, No
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: big deal. This house is probably just infected forever. Right. Well,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that's it. That's it about distressed real estate. And if
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: you want to know more about it, go home shopping
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and see what you find and let us know what
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: you find too. And in the meantime, Short Stuff is apt.
• 12:33
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• 12:35
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• 12:41
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