‘Violent house’ sale leads to eight-month jail term

[tommy525]

I was told I would never have to worry about ghosts in Taiwan, as the ghosts couldn't haunt me because they don't speak English!

Once, I swear this is true, I was in a cab and the driver spoke pretty good English--he had a US university degree. He was just pulling up at the destination and turned and looked behind him. He caught a glimps of himself reflected in the rear door glass, just a trick of light at the right angle and his semi tinted windows. He freaked out!

Me: "You okay?"
driver: "Did you see that? I saw a ghost in the window!"
Me: "Yeah, I saw it--it was your face, a refle--"
driver, already starting to take off: "Aaarrggghhh!! Get out! Get out!"

He had seemed so normal up until that poing.

I didn't have to pay for that ride.

Haha what a story. Either you were in a ghost cab or he thought you were a ghost?? Were you extra pale or something that time?


Hey instead of a free ride in the CASH CAB you got a free ride in a ghost cab? Now how many taxi drivers were educated in an American UNIV??? Cant be many. That shouldve been your tip off right there. And how many cab drivers speak of ghosts when they are taking a fare anyway? NOT many..... hmmm.

[housecat]

I was told I would never have to worry about ghosts in Taiwan, as the ghosts couldn't haunt me because they don't speak English!

Once, I swear this is true, I was in a cab and the driver spoke pretty good English--he had a US university degree. He was just pulling up at the destination and turned and looked behind him. He caught a glimps of himself reflected in the rear door glass, just a trick of light at the right angle and his semi tinted windows. He freaked out!

Me: "You okay?"
driver: "Did you see that? I saw a ghost in the window!"
Me: "Yeah, I saw it--it was your face, a refle--"
driver, already starting to take off: "Aaarrggghhh!! Get out! Get out!"

He had seemed so normal up until that point.

I didn't have to pay for that ride.

Haha what a story. Either you were in a ghost cab or he thought you were a ghost?? Were you extra pale or something that time?


Hey instead of a free ride in the CASH CAB you got a free ride in a ghost cab? Now how many taxi drivers were educated in an American UNIV??? Cant be many. That shouldve been your tip off right there. And how many cab drivers speak of ghosts when they are taking a fare anyway? NOT many..... hmmm.

No, he didn't think I was ghost, he thought the reflection of his own face was a ghost. I don't know how many taxi drivers have a US education. He made it up? But his English was fairly good and he said he was sharing the taxi with a friend because he still couldn't find a job--sounded plausable.

[Dog's_Breakfast]

I smell opportunity. How would I go about finding a "ghost house" to buy? I imagine they would be cheaper no?

Really, the more I think about it, perhaps some enterprising individual could set up a real estate agency that specialises in violent houses. Call it "Violent House Realty." The only buyers would likely be foreigners, and the few Taiwanese who aren't afraid of their own shadow (perhaps the aborigines?). Good way to pick up a new house for 1/4 market price, or less. Considering how ridiculously overpriced real estate is in Taiwan, this could gain some traction.

cheers,
DB

[Buttercup]

I'd pay extra, but I'd be asking for proof of manifestations.

Cool story, housecat!

[cake]

My ex gfs mother has an apartment in Taichung that's been on the market at a very reduced price for 10 years.
The last tenant (a disabled local) committed suicide.

She can't even find anyone to rent the place.
No one will touch it.

[Icon]

My ex gfs mother has an apartment in Taichung that's been on the market at a very reduced price for 10 years.
The last tenant (a disabled local) committed suicide.

She can't even find anyone to rent the place.
No one will touch it.

I'll make an offer. We believe cats keeps spirits away.

[Screaming Jesus]

This is interesting. It's possible to accommodate religious beliefs (or superstitions) through protective legislation. (For example, kosher / halal laws.) The thing is, the ghost tradition appears to be entirely uncodified. What if a fengshui master claims to have exorcised the place? Who decides?

[Paniolo]

When we first moved to Taiwan, we got a good deal on a flat near the Far Eastern Hotel. It was only many months later that we learned our building was widely known as 'The Suicide Building,' because there was easy access to the roof, which had only a waist-high wall a jumper needed to climb over.

About 18 months after we moved there, sure enough someone else jumped - an elderly person with chronic pain, apparently. Seems there had been a suicide roughly every 18-24 months for some time. Everyone in the nearby community would use that one nondescript building.

One can get great deals with these ghost houses!

[Eiger John]

It appears to be a fairly straightforward fraud case, and normally these come down to the extent to which the seller deceived the buyers and made a profit from it.

From news articles, it would appear that the seller made a hefty short-term profit. When the seller bought the property a month before, the previous owner had specifically inserted the fact of the suicide into the sales contract as being the reason behind the discounted price. The seller then proceeded to hide the information about the suicide from a buyer who then bought at a premium, including a false statement that the deceased tenant had died at the hospital instead of in the home. (Here, I use "premium" as meaning "a price above that which correct information would have resulted in within the market".)

A colleague of mine did take a short look through the court decision, and the key factors for the conviction were:

1) He knew about the previous tenant committing suicide in the apartment from the original owner and his broker, and this fact was written into the sales contract by hand.
2) He told his broker and purchaser that there was no such suicide happening inside the apartment, and this fact was also written into the information of the apartment.

The relatively heavy sentence (1 year 4 months, commuted down to 8 months automatically under the commutation act) was because:

1) He denied any wrongdoing during the trial.
2) He had still not reached any settlement with the purchaser.

Absent the long arm of the law, a person could basically conduct arbitrage of murder and suicide apartments -- buy low from honest, good-faith sellers and then cover over the stains with a fresh coat of paint before selling to unsuspecting suckers. The purchasers would be hard pressed to maintain the apartments' value in subsequent sales. Perhaps it's only Adam Smith's "invisible hand" that's pulling the prices down, right?

Before we stick this as a mere matter of local Taiwanese superstition, though, keep in mind some U.S. states have looked at the issue as well from time to time. Apparently sellers in California need to disclose deaths within the past 3 years, while in New York it is not necessary to disclose poltergeists. But it appears most states have opted for the basic rule (at issue in this Taiwanese case as well) that if somebody asks about some aspect of a property, you're not supposed to lie.

[Buttercup]

That's a really interesting post; thanks.

...while in New York it is not necessary to disclose poltergeists

Stuff like an obligation to disclose (or not) poltergeists is very open to interpretation? Couldn't people just say 'I didn't disclose it because I don't believe they exist'? Was there a case about this, or something.

We can dismiss it as superstition, but 'haunted houses' are taboo all over the world. Here in the UK, serial killers' houses are usually quickly demolished, although most houses are too old to get precious about their history.