Is Halloween over already? Not for haunted property owners! Source: propertyguru
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Conduct a cleansing ritual
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Demolish the property in question
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Turn the place into a house of worship
Halloween may be over, and the costumes and plastic pumpkins are back in the storeroom until next year. Yet Halloween is never over for owners of haunted properties, or more appropriately identified as stigmatised properties. This happens due to a tragedy in the home, such as a family being murdered or suicide by hanging, and more.
The truth is, stigmatised properties are harder to sell or rent out. And even if the owner is able to achieve two of these things, the price they are able to fetch may be lower than the average market price. No one enjoys living in a place where terrible things have happened to the previous occupants. To make things more complicated, it is hard to remove the stigma, since it is a psychological tag. You cannot scrub it away like a dirty stain on the floor. So how do we do it?
1/ Bring out the Holy man!
Who knows, the holy man probably doesn’t believe in the things he is doing. Source: nbcmontana
Are you religious? It doesn’t matter. Most Malaysians are religious and the perception of the majority will affect the price of your property. Hence we can cater to their beliefs by hiring a bomoh or holy man to perform cleansing rituals in the house. We are not saying that this will work since we cannot be certain if ghosts actually exist or not in the first place to be banished. But we know that the ritual acts as a psychological instrument to combat the stigma.
After performing the ritual, it is vital that words of mouth carry across the neighbourhood, informing everyone that the cleansing has been done. Hopefully, by then, the stigma will finally be removed.
2/ No house? No problem
Haunted house? What haunted house? Source: homeserve
You want to know what is more reliable than a holy man, bomoh or priest? A good old wrecking ball! If the previous exorcism or cleansing ceremony fails to clear up the stigma, then consider levelling the entire property to the ground. The idea is to leave the land empty for several years to completely squash the negative psychological tag attached to the building. When we say squash, we mean it literally.
But! There is a huge “but” to consider. It is costly to demolish the entire building. So instead, consider selling the stigmatised property in the market at a lower rate. Also, if you leave the land standing empty, you are effectively losing out in potential rental yield. Even a stigmatised property can be rented or sold, at a reasonable price. Hence, take all these costs into consideration before doing anything dramatic.
3/ You can never go wrong with god
God beats ghosts! Ohhh, and let us not forget all those wonderful donations we can collect from the church. Source: malaymail
A psychological problem requires a psychological solution unless, of course, we are talking about a wrecking ball. Wrecking balls are totally awesome! Houses of worship are oftentimes seen as a place of power that wards off evil spirits. With that in mind, you might want to convert your property into a temple, mosque or some other religious building to destroy the stigma.
Not only are you contributing to society, but a building for religious purposes may also be registered as part of the tourist attractions. That means you can generate further passive income through donations, not forgetting that it is super cool to have people pose for Instagram photos with your property. Remember the rules! If exorcism doesn’t work, then just turn the whole building into a ghost-busting temple. Go big or go home!
Say bye bye to our invisible tenants in your home
The ghosts have packed their bags and left! But were they here in the first place? Or perhaps they exist only in our minds. Regardless of whether they are real or not, the effects are very real. With that in mind, you better be careful when buying a property. Halloween should only be celebrated once per year, no more, no less. We do not want to celebrate Halloween on a 24 hours basis, and for good reasons.
