Why purchasing a haunted property is not a bad idea?

The property is actually haunted

In reality, property buyers will manoeuvre away from homes with “an extra tenant” or one rumoured to be, regardless of the news or stories being old or new.

So, it's not uncommon for them to reject these properties as many will feel uncomfortable living there, or even have a hard time selling it in the future!

It is also known that in many cultures, these properties with unnatural death will lose much of their appeal to investors or buyers. So, prices will naturally be lower.

Although their prices have been significantly reduced, there is still a niche market for it where some investors have found it lucrative to buy up these properties. Why so, though?

Well…

Usually it is to generate a profit. In other words, to buy at a low price, and sell it high.

But is it worth the investment into these properties? How do I know the property I’m viewing is haunted? Top 5 Scariest Haunted Properties? How Did Haunted Properties Become A Popular Property Investment? What Strategies are used in buying A Haunted House?

In this article, we will look into the answers and important points that are necessary when an investor is looking into purchasing a haunted property.

What Is A Haunted Property?

A haunted property is a place, building or house that is often inhabited by supernatural beings or spirits. Generally, it is associated with unfortunate events happening, from normal issues like natural death or some extreme ones, like murder cases, homicides, suicide, etc.

So you’re getting curious. What kind of haunted properties are we talking about?

Let’s dive into a few popular places.

1) Mona Fendi

Mona Fendi, also known as Mona Fandey is a Malaysian singer turned witch, a.k.a. bomoh. She had murdered a politician, Mazlan Idris, after convincing him she could make him invincible in her own home after a land deal had gone south.

When reprimanded and sentenced to hang in 2001, she claimed she would never die, a haunting response for many.

In today’s time, her house has been abandoned, and no one dares to purchase the property after numerous stories reported by visitors. Even the most daring ghostbusters and supernatural investigators have stated that the abandoned house contains unbelievably dark energy.

Hence, no ordinary people should visit the property. Let’s leave it to the ghost hunters, shall we?

We believe the title of being one of the most haunted properties in Malaysia will remain on Mona Fendi’s property, so it is expected that little to no investors would dare purchase the place.

2) First World Hotel

A hotel located in Genting Highlands, the First World Hotel is one of the biggest in the world, with over 6000 rooms available for guests. However, there are certain floors which patrons are not allowed on, like the 7th and 21st floor, as it is rumoured the lift does not stop on these floors.

The smell of burning incense is evident as well throughout the whole hotel, which is no surprise as the hotel has one of the highest number of suicide rates. With casino-goers as their main customer base, many had lost out at the Genting casino, in which they end up committing suicide.

Guests have reported seeing spirits jumping out the windows and disappearing mid-air, hearing cries in the corridor as well as those who ended up dying in landslides and car accidents also haunt these structures.

Certain rooms were also made unavailable as guests have reported falling sick, and guests walking downstairs would see spirits walking around the rooms, although it is pitch-black and knew the floor is blocked off.

With all these reports and news being made, would you still dare to stay in these hotel rooms?

3) Shih Chung Branch School

Before it became a school, it was a home and hotel, owned by a few owners before being leased out to the Government English School. It was then named Shih Chung Branch School.

However, it was not long before the Japanese occupancy took over during WWII, which led the school to be relocated and the property be turned into an administration building. During their reign, some horrifyingly dark events had taken place within the old school building.

Many have stated that prisoners of war were interrogated, tormented, and executed, with their spirits of those murdered and a couple of Japanese soldiers still lingering today. A writer from mypenangstories also stated that her father-in-law was a headmaster of the school. He explained that the school had returned to the building in the 1950s, before relocating again in the 90’s.

Alleged stories of the basement being used to house prisoners were also made, but the authenticity remains unknown.

There have been protests of Penangites to transform the property into a condominium or hotel without affecting the school building by the Asia Green Group, which led the Penang Municipal Council to deny the project.

The building is left abandoned until today and can still be seen when visiting Penang.

4) Villa Nabila

Located in Johor Bahru, Villa Nabila has a history that no one could imagine. Once owned and lived by the wealthy, it went through a series of unfortunate events which had led to its current state of abandonment. Today, it is but a sore sight, with a dilapidated house surrounded by overgrown vegetation.

There are several versions of the story, but they all lead back to the murders of the people living there. Some believe that the family was murdered by jealous relatives, with hitmen involved. Another tale was a maid wanting all the inheritance to herself after Nabila’s parents had passed away, leaving their fortune to their only daughter. With greed on her mind, she killed Nabila and buried her in the walls of the villa before fleeing.

Whichever version of the story you believe, it all pinpoints back to the family having a daughter named Nabila, which the villa gets its famous name from.

5) Kellie's Castle

Located in Batu Gajah, Perak, the castle was built by William-Kellie Smith for his family as an extension of their current home. The place was built to show his love to his family.

However when a series of unfateful events happened, from his failed business to his passing away in Lisbon at age 56 due to pneumonia, it led to the castle being incomplete.

Distraught with the situation, his family had packed up and moved, selling the property off, but the new owners had also left it in that state.

During the war, Japanese soldiers used the castle as a torture chamber for their prisoners, in which they were then murdered.

As of today, the castle is an attraction site for many, especially ghost hunters seeking for thrilling spiritual events, as it is believed that William’s spirit remains at the castle, roaming its corridors when the sun sets. There were also reports of spirits belonging to the Tamil workers who had died from the Spanish flu lingering around.

How Do I Know The Property Is Haunted? 

There are two ways to find out if the property you’re looking into is haunted

1) Research In News Outlets / History Of the House

Heading over to news articles has been a great resource for many investors whenever buying a place, as it provides ample information especially if the property you’re looking into is well-known, especially when some unfortunate events happened as the media are eager to capture news on it and make it public for their readers.

2) Ask the Agent / Surrounding Neighbours

It may sound astonishing, but asking your potential neighbours or the property agents themselves is another way of gaining information about the property. So be it an office building, a house or even shoplots, it would be wise to ask in order to make a wise purchase. It would be best to start off with open-ended, general questions like “Do you think this property is desirable?” or “Can you tell me if there’s any history behind this property?”

But why are these seemingly spooky properties still in popular demand?

Whenever someone hears that the property is haunted, their natural reaction is to back out of the property, and just ‘ghost’ the agent.

Just kidding. But they do head the opposite direction, though.

Apart from running away, certain investors would see potential in these properties, as it appears to have a very lucrative market. Not to mention, some of these properties are located in very prominent, densely populated cities with a high market value and little land.

These areas are expensive; however, the people willing to live or work in them would rather be haunted than to be on the streets!

Property owner Ng Goon-lau, dubbed Hong Kong’s ‘King of Haunted Flats’, mentions that the benefits of these places are that the prices are between 30% - 50% below market value.

In Malaysia, haunted properties were valued to be 40% lower than the market rate, as stated by Datuk Paul Khong, managing director of Savills Malaysia. He clarified that these properties were not in high demand and had a high chance of having demolition costs. Purification rituals would also need to be done to cleanse the property.

Hence, the prices would need to be lowered to attract investors.

If you’re still interested, here are some ways for you to purchase a haunted property:

Common Strategies to Purchase a Haunted Property

1) Buying Low, Selling High

The strategy of buying low and selling high has been used by many investors worldwide, as they would like to have a nice profit from the property they sold off. Haunted properties typically have a lower market rate as stated above, providing an opportunity for investors to purchase these places before being resold at a higher value.

It is not certain that this strategy will work, but it's still worth the investment if the investor is interested in it.

2) Renting Out To Tenants

Another strategy that an investor could utilise is to purchase the property and rent or lease it out to potential tenants. So, if it's an office building, the investor can lease it out, turning it into offices or even shops if the contract allows it. If it's a house, they can rent out to tenants, be it workers or students.

However, there would need to be leniency when renting these places out, like having no down payment, close to public transport or even nature.

Furthermore, if the property is located in an exceptionally good location, it can be catered to expats, who usually favour convenience and accessibility over other factors.

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