Would you buy a house where someone had been murdered? If you are sensitive about such things, then you need to know whether your potential homes have such dark pasts before bidding on them. Here are some of the tips you can use to unearth the "criminal history" of a real estate property:

Ask the Seller

By law, sellers are required to make full disclosure of potential defects of undesirable qualities that their houses have or may have. Unfortunately, criminal histories do not constitute some of the disclosures sellers are required to make. However, many sellers make such disclosures of their own free will because they don't to be blamed by buyers who may end up unearthing the information on their own. Even if the seller hasn't volunteered the information, just ask them about it; few people will lie when you ask them a direct question.

Ask the Neighbors

In addition to asking the seller about the criminal past of the house, you can also ask the neighbors. In a typical community, you are likely to find one or two people who love to gossip and these are the ones who will fill you in when you want to know more about your potential house. Sure, some of their stories may be difficult to swallow, but at least you will get the general outline of the crime.

Research the Address

Most serious crimes, the ones you are likely to fret about, usually find their way to the local news sections. Therefore, just take the address of the property to good old Google and peruse the results. Remember to put in variations of the name of the place if you want to be thorough; the exact postal address alone might not yield much.

Consult the Police Records

Most people don't know this, but you can access police records pertaining to crime in a local area –at a small fee. Therefore, just head over to the police precinct with jurisdiction over the property in question and ask for a printout of criminal calls going back a few years. If any crime call was made to the police from the address, then you should be able to see it in the printout.

Of course, you don't have much to worry about if you are using a real estate agent for your search. The agents know all the tricks in the book to unearth these things, just tell them your concerns and you are good to go. Contact a realty team for more information on single family houses for sale in your area. 

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