How To Sell That Haunted House

If you have a home that is known to be haunted and you want to sell it, you may be in for a challenge.  Some buyers have a strange dislike of ghosts, spirits, specters and any other paranormal phenomenon.  You could try an exorcism, but will it work?  Some ghosts may not be of the denomination of the religion you choose to engage to evict them from your home.  Some may even be atheists.  However, hope is nigh; many of these helpful tips will aid you in making the presence of your otherworldly roommates less obvious.

First of all, the outer appearance of your home is going to be the first impression that a buyer receives when he or she timidly tiptoes towards the door.  Instead of the dark, forbidding atmosphere that encourages hauntings to proliferate, you should cultivate a modern, well-kept appearance.  In fact, completely transform the exterior with landscaping, new paint or siding and different colors.  Clear away the jagged, dead trees, especially those with a ‘hanging branch’.  Plant pansies and daisies instead of deadly nightshade.  Rake the leaves.  Paint the house a cheerful color like white or yellow.  Wash the windows.  Replace the rusty iron gates with a white picket fence. 

It’s a well-known fact that haunted houses are dark, nasty places with spiders the size of Shetland ponies cavorting across the carpets and rats frolicking on the banisters.  Start your pest-control procedures at once!  Whether it’s KillEmDead Rat Traps or Pete the Pest Pestilence Guy, get rid of your unwanted animal residents.  When their pets are summarily disinvited to a residence, ghosts may well decide to pack their bags.

The interior of your haunted house is as important as the exterior.  Instead of the darkness and gloom that spirits flourish in, it’s time for the white, yellow, blue and green with pops of red, orange and purple to come out and brighten things up.  Strive after light, bright and airy.  Make sure the electrical system and the lights in your home are well-maintained and serviced.   If there is a particular room causing you trouble, strip it to the bones and start aggressively redecorating with lots of white paint and hard-to-kill houseplants. 

It is best to put away all decorations involving armor, weapons, odd books on how to butcher after dark, your voodoo doll collection and that mysterious curio that you picked up out of a junk shop on your travels in rural China, despite the proprietor’s incomprehensible warning.  Staging your home with a minimal amount of furniture, fresh flowers and tasteful artwork of landscapes and fruit bowls is the best way to confuse ghosts and make them wretchedly uncomfortable. 

Minimizing the presence of ghosts on your haunted property can be a challenge, but by renovating and staging your home, you can make the house less redolent of spirits.  This may require a fair amount of time and cash outlay, but in the end you will be in possession of a home that does not immediately elicit images of headless horsemen and that old story going around about that person who was in that house that time.

By: Carolyn Capalbo

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Carolyn Capalbo is an expert military relocation specialist and real estate agent serving Northern Virginia real estate. Visit Just4Real.com to find updated market information about areas in Prince William, including Loudoun County real estate.