Thornton, PA — A woman is suing her realtor for a haunted home she purchased. The real estate agent did not reveal that a murder-suicide happened in the house.
Janet Milliken, 59, purchased a home in Thornton, Pennsylvania, through Remax, for $610,000. The widowed mother moved from California with her two children after her husband passed away. They moved into the house in the summer of 2007.
After living in the home for just a few weeks, the Milliken family learned that the home had a dark history. Neighbors informed Janet that there had been a murder-sucide in the home the previous year. Some of them even believed that the house is haunted.
On February 11, 2006, the previous homeowner, Konstantinos Koumboulis, shot and killed his wife in the home. Later, he took his own life in their bedroom.
A few months later, Joseph and Kathleen Jacono purchased the residence on October 31, 2006, for $450,000. The couple knew of the murder-suicide. They later sold it to Milliken the following year, in June 2007.
Milliken sued the real estate company and its agent for not disclosing the house's history. In the court docket, she says they made "a deliberate choice not to disclose the home's recent past."
The judge granted judgement in favor of the defendants, stating that state law does not require realitors to notify homebuyers of events such as these.
In December 2012, a panel of the state appeals court affirmed the judge's decision.
Tim Rayne, Milliken's attorney, filed a petition to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania last week. Rayne is anxious to take the case further and said "a horrific event that occurs within a property can be just as damaging and troubling to a future homeowner as a physical defect." He believes sellers should disclose a home's history if there were gruesome events like this.
The Milliken family is still living in the home. They would prefer to move but can't afford to.
Should realtors disclose to potential home buyers that a house is haunted? Leave your comments below.
Be sure to check out John's other columns:
Akron Paranormal Examiner
Cleveland Haunted Places Examiner
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