There’s a New Home Exorcism Service for Sellers Who Suspect Their House Is Haunted
If you’re getting ready to sell your house, you know a new coat of paint on the front door can increase your curb appeal, and that it pays to declutter ahead of an open house. But have you thought about cleansing your home of any resident ghosts?
Thirteen percent of Americans believe they currently live in a home that is haunted, according to a new survey released by Realtor.com. What’s more? The survey of 2,000 people found that more than half of those cohabiting with ghosts knew or suspected the house was haunted before moving in.
No laws exist requiring sellers to spill their guts on suspected hauntings when they put their homes up for sale. But if you do live in a haunted house—and want to clear it of Casper as a courtesy before putting your home on the market—a national real estate company has launched a new home exorcism service to do just that.
The process begins with a video consultation between the seller and a practicing exorcist working with ISoldMyHouse.com, which is a platform that allows homeowners to list their properties at a fixed price so it can be shared with real estate search sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com. After the consultation, the exorcist considers several factors—including whether the spirit is friendly or aggressive, how attached it is to the property, what its intentions are in sticking around—and then develops a bespoke plan for how to cleanse the house.
How exactly did this spooky service come about? With a growing number of people having security cameras installed in and around their homes, and the quality of images continually improving, more homeowners are capturing evidence of potential paranormal activity, explains Kris Lippi, the founder of ISoldMyHouse.com.
Prior to launching the exorcism add-on earlier this year, the real estate company surveyed 5,000 Americans about their supernatural beliefs to gauge the impact the paranormal has on selling a property. More than a third of respondents reported having a paranormal experience. Despite just 55 percent of respondents saying they believed in ghosts or spirits, 61 percent said they wouldn’t buy a house if they thought it was haunted.
“Trying to sell a house can be a stressful life event at the best of times, let alone when adding the possibility of a house being haunted into the mix,” Lippi says.
A quarter of the participants in the paranormal survey said they had a “harmless experience” with a spirit, such as items being moved. One in 10 said the ghostly encounter was “aggressive,” and they heard disturbing noises, felt physical discomfort, or saw items being thrown and broken. Nearly one in five Americans have consulted with a psychic or priest about a supernatural occurrence.
In most circumstances, there are no laws requiring you reveal the presence of ghosts when selling your house. But there is an exception in New York, where Stambovsky v. Ackley (aka the “Ghostbusters” ruling) requires that if homeowners make public that their home is haunted, they can’t deny the paranormal activity when they put that house on the market.
Oftentimes, a suspected ghost can be explained away. A cold spot is probably due to a drafty window or door or it’s actually an electrical issue that’s causing the flickering lights and an old furnace that’s screeching in the middle of the night.
But, occasionally, real estate agents come across some ghost stories.
Angela Fox, broker and owner of RE/MAX Urban Properties in Denver, says she once had an investor who bought a house from an owner, but then quickly sold it to a house flipper after noticing some spooky features.
“The new buyer called my investor client and said, ‘Thanks for the extras!’ My client said, ‘What do you mean?’ It turns out there was a ghost in the house.” (The house flipper in question ended up hiring a Denver ghost society to do an exorcism.)
Have you ever lived in a haunted house? Drop your ghost stories in the comments below.