Would you buy a "haunted" house if you saw it pop up online? In this challenging market, the majority of house-hunting Americans say yes, so long as the home was appealing in other important ways. Forbes reports that, per a new survey out from Zillow, 67% of potential homebuyers would purchase a supposedly spooky residence if the home otherwise "checked all their boxes"—like having a swimming pool or hefty backyard, sitting in an ideal location, or being more affordable than similar homes on the market.
The results of the poll, conducted among more than 900 recent homeowners and nearly 1,000 potential buyers, underscores today's tough housing market, with still-high home costs and the rate for a 30-year mortgage hitting 7.63% last week, per Forbes; for context, that rate was just 3.1% in October 2021. "The combination of high prices, limited inventory, and rising interest rates is creating a witches' brew of trouble for would-be homeowners," Zillow's Manny Garcia says, per the company's release. "When balancing so many priorities in an inventory-starved market, avoiding ghosts and ghouls doesn't always make the cut."
Some interested parties are braver than others. The Zillow poll found 29% of respondents would actually be more likely to scoop up a place if it was said to be haunted. The Washington Post details the challenges that real estate agents can have in showing and selling reportedly phantom-filled abodes, including laws in some states that require sellers to disclose a home's history to prospects, including if gruesome crimes were committed there in the past. "Restless spirits may not actually materialize in the halls, but potential buyers get a bad vibe and walk away spooked nonetheless," the Post notes. (More haunted house stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
