8 Quick Ways How To Find Out If Someone Died In Your House

By: ROS Team

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Before buying a house, you may want to do some digging to find out if anything creepy ever happened. The main question most prospective buyers want to know early in the home buying process is did someone die in my house?

Some homeowners know that their house is haunted, and they may use that as a selling point. Other people are more concerned about the property’s worth after there’s been a fatality in the home. And then there are those curious souls who just want to know.

1- Search Online
2- Review Disclosure Documents
3- Consult With Others In the Area
4- Read Old Newspaper Articles
5- Try Out Housecreep.com
6- Visit the Office of Vital Records
7- Investigator Help
8- Ask the Owner Or Agent

How to Find Out if Someone Died in Your House?

Here are some ways to find out if someone died in a house you’re interested in buying.

Conduct a Search Online

If you are wondering how to find out if someone died in your house for free, you can read obituaries, and social media posts, visit the website of a local place of worship. Check local news websites, or find the person’s gravesite to confirm whether they’ve passed away.

A Google search is frequently all it takes to find out whether anyone died in a house. Especially if the death was a high-profile one. In addition, you may be able to locate news stories on the internet that mention the address and if anyone lost their life on the property.

It’s also a good idea to use the search engine on popular social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to research addresses. Social media posts can provide information that’s intercepted from police scanners. Begin your search by entering the street name and house number in quotation marks. You can also follow the steps in this guide to using online public records searches and address lookups to find out if someone died in your house.

Review Disclosure Documents

Only three states – California, Alaska, and South Dakota – have death disclosure laws. If you don’t live in those states, it becomes the seller’s responsibility to disclose all of the property’s history to prospective buyers. There is a risk that the sale may fall through once the buyer learns that someone died on the premises, but it should be reported anyway.

If you’re worried about disclosing the information, consult with your realtor about the best way to go about notifying the buyers of the house’s past. Realtors are not required to reveal such information, but they should be prepared to do so should the question come up.

Consult With Others In the Area

If you’re afraid or worried that someone died in a house you want to buy, consider reaching out to neighbors and asking if they have any information about the property. If they’ve lived in the neighborhood for a long time, they may have more knowledge about the history of the house and any previous owners. Most neighbors are forthcoming about property history – besides, they have nothing to gain by concealing the information from you.

Look for Clues In Old Newspaper Articles

You may be able to determine if there were any deaths in your house by searching newspaper archives. Read obituaries and police reports to see if there’s any mention of the decedent’s address. Just be aware, though, that even if there was a death at your address, the likelihood that you’ll find it in a newspaper archive is slim.

Try Out Housecreep.com

There is a free database called HouseCreep.com that features houses that have shady pasts in any location. Whether it’s due to drug deals or it was a high-profile criminal’s home. HouseCreep.com also features homes that are allegedly haunted.

Visit the Office of Vital Records

As a last resort, you can contact the state’s vital records office for information on the house’s past and anything that may have happened there. There’s no charge to review the records.

Many folks don’t have time to wade through tons of data. If you don’t mind paying for information, Diedinhouse.com is a subscription-based site that can also provide this type of information.

Get an Investigator’s Help

If you are still wondering how can you find out if someone has died in your house? An experienced private investigator can also assist you in finding answers about a property’s history. Finding a reasonably priced and trustworthy investigator might be a challenge. But it could be worth it if you really want to buy the house. Of all the options available to you, hiring an investigator will be the most expensive.

Try not to be alarmed if you find out that someone died in the house. People used to die in their homes all the time; hospitals weren’t readily available in every city. That is why you can expect to find records that someone died on the premises if you’re looking to buy an older house.

Ask the Owner Or a Real Estate Agent

The seller may provide you with information to help you decide whether or not you want to purchase the home. In addition, if you’re still wondering how I find out if someone has died for free, you can ask the homeowner or the agent.

In California, homeowners have to disclose to potential buyers whether or not someone has died on the property within the past three years.

If there was a death in the house, it may be worth your while to look into the cause of death; it could have been due to the presence of toxic substances in or around the home. Such as radon or lead, or it could be an indication of the crime level in the area. Such as if someone died as the result of a home invasion.

Conclusion

Always remember that, when buying or selling a house, whether or not someone died in the house has little to no impact on the home’s value. However, this may not be the case when the person suffered a very violent or mysterious death. If you learn that an incident occurred at your residence that resulted in someone’s unexpected demise. A quick Google search can often provide some answers.