Table Of Content
- Use the paid service diedinhouse.com
- Should a death in a house impact your home search?
- Search online obituaries and death notices
- Easy Ways to Find Out If Someone Died in Your House
- Do I have to disclose if someone died in my house?
- How to Find Out if Someone Died in Your House
- Search for your address on Google and social media

That said, it’s in the best interest of the seller to tell you the true history of the home. If you find out about an undisclosed death in the home before closing, the deal might fall through. Read over the seller disclosure form to see if anything looks suspicious or like it was purposely left blank.
Use the paid service diedinhouse.com
According to a 2020 study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31.4% of U.S. residents died in their homes in 2018. To get an idea of what your home is objectively worth without any stigma attached, try HomeLight’s free Home Value Estimator. The online tool uses key information provided by you and combs through millions of transactions to provide a ballpark estimate of value. An example would be the former Massachusetts home of Lizzie Borden. Lizzie was initially believed to be the culprit but was acquitted in trial. The murder remains unsolved and the home now serves as a bed and breakfast that people specifically seek out due to its troubled past.
Should a death in a house impact your home search?
Whether you’re buying or selling, it’s worth investigating whether or not someone has died in a home. If you decide that your dream home is haunted, you may be able to use Orchard to find another option. In most states, the history of a house, including deaths, regardless of the circumstances, is not a required disclosure in the housing market. This means even recent events, like a murder, need not be disclosed by the seller or realtor. But this could make it a stigmatized property that no one wants to buy.
Search online obituaries and death notices
In most states, real estate agents are not required to disclose information about deaths that occurred in a home or on the property. But let’s take a closer look at when the law demands disclosure, and when it might be wise to inform potential buyers even if not legally required. A real estate agent or seller might not be required to disclose any deaths in the house. And if they’re not legally required to do so, it’s likely they won’t provide that information readily. Neighbors and locals, though, might have information about the house that’s of interest, including deaths that may have occurred there.
Suzanne Somers' Cause of Death: Breast Cancer and Other Health Issues - TODAY
Suzanne Somers' Cause of Death: Breast Cancer and Other Health Issues.
Posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
You can also look up all of your neighbors’ homes since searches are unlimited with a subscription. You can save up to 20% by purchasing multiple search credits at one time. The catch is that DiedInHouse.com mostly aggregates data collected after 1980.
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Everyone thinks about the history of their home and wonders whether it includes death. Make a cash offer now, and Orchard will sell your old home after you move. Commonly asked questions about finding out if someone died in a house, answered.
Search them by address (e.g. "4711 Hancock") to locate everyone who may have lived in or boarded at the residence. If you have identified any of your home's former residents, then a search might also include their surname (e.g. "123 beauregard" lightsey). Though they knew of the house's bloody past, the suit alleged, they kept it hidden from the buyer, whose children learned about it while trick-or-treating on Halloween.
There’s an easier way, and our FREE guide breaks down how it can work for you.

Search for your address on Google and social media
News agencies and libraries often keep archives of newspapers that are free to search. Many of these entities have even taken the time to digitize their printed newspapers dating back many years. Though these states are the most transparent in regard to on-property deaths, the general rule in most other states is if someone asks about it, then the agent or seller can’t obscure the truth. Our tool analyzes the records of recently sold homes near you, your home’s last sale price, and other market trends to provide a preliminary range of value in under two minutes.
Unless required by their state to disclose on-property deaths, real estate agents likely won’t go out of their way to share a home’s morbid past with you. The site cross references between public records and other databases to find who used to live in a particular U.S. address, whether they're alive or not, and if they died while in the house. It can tell prospective homebuyers information the seller isn't obligated to disclose, which can sometimes lower a house's final price. If you want to find free information on a specific address, the local assessor’s office often records all the properties under its jurisdiction. Heading to the home in question’s assessor’s office can provide insight into the home you are looking at, such as the home’s ownership history and assessed value.
“It’s obviously a sad situation in the lives of the families and individuals, but as far as property value, it doesn’t really have an impact,” he explains. It’s also important to be calm and collected during the selling process. The home had been the scene of a newsworthy homicide in 1987, in which a man murdered his wife and kids before killing himself. No matter which state you own property in, it can be a good idea to simply be upfront about a home’s complete history. City directories, available for most urban areas and many towns, can be used to fill in gaps between available census enumerations.
A top agent who knows your market will know the disclosure laws and how to share the information if asked about it. HomeLight’s Agent Match platform is one way you can find an agent that best suits your needs. States with the strictest death disclosure laws are Alaska, California, and South Dakota. Not all agents will necessarily know whether or not a death has occurred on a property they’re showing, but they can likely find out if you ask them to. Cake offers its users do-it-yourself online forms to complete their own wills and generalized educational content about wills. Many users would be better served consulting an attorney than using a do-it-yourself online form.
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