Posted on 01/28/2013 6:14:25 PM PST by lowbridge
A Pennsylvania woman has appealed to the state Supreme Court in her suit against a home seller and real estate agent who failed to disclose that a murder-suicide had taken place in the home she purchased.
When Janet Milliken, 59, moved from California after her husband died, she had hoped to start a new life with her two teenage children in Pennsylvania near her family.
She bought a home in Thornton, Pa., for $610,000 in June 2007. She learned a few weeks after she moved in from a next-door neighbor that a murder-suicide had occurred the year before in her home.
She sued the seller and the real estate agent for fraud and misrepresentation, saying they made a "deliberate choice not to disclose the home's recent past," according to a court document.
The trial judge granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, saying state law does not require agents to disclose such events.
Then in December 2012, a panel of the state appeals court affirmed that decision, though with a nearly split decision.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
One of my favorite lines!
“I sleep just fine on a bed where two people died in their sleep. I’m hoping for the same luck.”
I wanna die in my sleep just like ol’ granddad. Not screaming and crying like the passengers in his car.
A friend of mine lived in a house across the street from a disclosed suicide house that sat on the market for over a year (22 years ago) and sold for $65,000. Similar houses on the street were going for $100,000 at the time.
I'm just one more soul passing through this part of the world, and this house.
I am very glad the walls can't talk, based on some of the stuff that's gone on since I've lived here. ;)
/johnny
Different states have different laws regarding "disclosure".some are "mandatory disclosure" and some aren't.Massachusetts isn't mandatory disclosure according to the lawyer who's represented me in several real estate transactions.According to what he told me the owner,in this case,would have been required to divulge *only* if specifically asked "has anything violent or newsworthy ever happened in this house?"
Well it sure wasn’t the favorite of the passengers in granps’ car! ;)
Yes! A holy priest offering a very powerful house blessing is all this lady needed.
I wonder if she’d be suing if she hadn’t bought at the peak of the housing bubble? What an idiot.
You’re bad!
LOL!
Of course, I avoid married women since I'm older and wiser, now.
/johnny
ha! i saw a movie just like that... Virgina Madsen was in it... The Haunting in Connecticut, i think...
Wait a sec...
THAT WAS YOU!?!?!?!?!?!?!
My worthless brother-in-law (If you know him he probably owes you money)rented a house near here.
After they left the house was moved, and underneath they found the skeleton of a black woman. A quick check of renters showed that about 75 years ago it was rented by a doctor, and the skeleton was a display for his office.
Nothing weird ever happened there, but I was sure glad when my BIL moved a thousand miles away!
I don’t think it is in Texas, but in Alaska it was if it occurred in the last three years. It was one the standard form.
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pub/rec4229.pdf
calyfornia I beleive you have to disclose a death if within 3 years of sale or listing
/johnny
Just guessing...violent or suspicious deaths,perhaps,must be reported and "natural causes" deaths not.For example...my Mom died in the house that was our family homestead.She died of natural causes (cancer) and was sent home after all hope of a cure was gone.I'd guess that *that* type of death,at least,needn't be reported.
It’s actually funny in a way, how people ‘forget’ history. I grew up in the Adirondacks in NY and there were mostly old houses passed down family to family up there. It was pretty common for wakes to be held in the deceased’s home throughout much of history. Hell, the Vikings did it.
But today, a dead body is considered a hazmat issue 2 seconds after the dude shuffles off the mortal coil and the genpub thinks he’s gonna haunt the place eternally.
We are sooo much more enlightened today...
Yeah, but in California, you can say 'It's not a bug, it's a feature'...
/johnny
So the wife said.......
;)
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