Are you preparing to list your home? Something very interesting occurred the other day after the sale of a home where I represented the buyers.
The entire process went incredibly smoothly and was a total delight because the parties to the sale were smart, fun and interesting. So while I was happy when we found the perfect home for the buyers, I was also a little sad because it meant I wouldn’t be seeing them as regularly.
A couple days after the sale, Mr. Buyer called me to say he’d been scouting the edge of the yard to put up a dog fence when he came across a gravestone (with a man’s name on it) on his acreage which had previously been covered by snow. This concerned him quite a bit because he knew that if a body or ashes were buried there his wife would freak out, especially since the death date was a fairly recent 1999.
Yikes! I immediately called the seller’s agent who in turn called the seller who was on her way to a new house out of state.
All’s well that ends well because there was no body under the stone—a friend in the granite industry had made the flat headstone and given it to her as a memorial gift when her husband had passed and she had just placed it out in the woods and forgotten all about it. Phew. No body. No ID HD special!
The take away from this tale is it’s probably a good idea to disclose all burials located on your property, pet as well as human. Old cemeteries out on your acreage might not bother you, but they are often worrisome to others. You can’t lose by disclosing!
Sue Aldrich
Owner/Broker
Coldwell Banker Classic Properties