“We hold that a murder-suicide does not constitute an actionable material defect,” Justice J. Michael Eakin wrote.
Interesting..
I asked several people today with varied background for opinions on this story. I live in Pennsylvania.. so the ruling has a direct affect..
The reaction seemed to fall within the normal boundaries of religious belief.. Two atheists I knew didn’t care one bit if a murder/etc took place in their abode. I even asked them if a pedophile perpetrated horrible actions in a house, would they still consider buying it? They said sure..
On flipside, three Christians and one Jehovah Witness all had issues with the Supreme Court ruling, stating that they believed in a good and and that houses could have spirits and feelings trapped within them.
My wife and I saw a house several years back.. the real estate agent secretly and silently disclosed to us that a suicide took place within the confines of the property.. even pointing out the section of the basement a hung body was found in. While it was a gesture of “get out now” she loudly commented to us about how beautiful the house was. And it was. We didn’t purchase it for other reasons —the suicide factored in for me.
I think I would do my due diligence regardless of a real estate agent’s words.. The internet, public property searches, and court house papers are all at our fingertips these days…
I laugh when I see the movie THE CONJURING or AMITYVILLE HORROR where people simply fall in ‘love’ with a house and rarely ask anything about it..
Do research.. do your own due diligence. Ask about the material defects.. but also, should you be inclined to think a paranormal realm could exist on the planet earth, investigate it for yourself and learn all you can learn about a property you’ll want to call home.
