Definition of "Stigmatized Property"

Mandy Love real estate agent

Written by

Mandy Loveelite badge icon

Listing Leaders Prestige

Stigmatized property is a property that home buyers might back off on closing a deal due to factors that are not related to the property’s price, structural/aesthetic conditions and overall features.

The stigmas of a stigmatized property can include:

Criminal – a stigmatized property by a criminal activity. Say a house used to be a brothel or a drug den; it’s likely that a lot of home buyers will shy away from closing the deal worrying their doors will be knocked on a lot by former customers.

Debt – if the former owner of the property held a lot of debt, home buyers might look at the house as a stigmatized property fearing a lot of collectors unbeknownst to the change of ownership will come and annoy them.

Death – if there was a homicide or a suicide inside the house, home buyers might feel a bit weird living there. Some states and cities even demand the home seller disclose that information in their full disclosure. In California, for instance, it’s required that this information is made available to the home buyer if the death occurred less than 3 years ago.

Phenomena – Would you live in a haunted house if the price was right? Well, many consider a haunted house a stigmatized property, and some places do obligate the home seller to disclose that information.

Minimal – those are properties that are only stigmatized by a small group of people. Example: a person from one certain religion might see a property that used to be a temple for a “competing” religion, as a stigmatized property but people from the same religion as the temple will not care.

Public – it’s the opposite of the minimal; it’s that stigmatized property that everyone knows about its stigmatized history. A home where a slaughter of national dimensions occurred will fall into this stigmatized property category.

Real Estate Tip:

Need to know if a property is stigmatized – and how to deal with one that is? Get a
real estate agent and let him (her) show you how!

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Right to property depends on some occurrence. ...

Placed by the federal government on a individual's real property for federal estate tax or income tax law violations. In the case of a federal estate tax lien, upon the owner's death, the ...

Increase in the value of property caused by inflation. For example, John buys a home for $150,000. Because of inflation, the home is worth $200,000 five years later. The inflation equity in ...

Articles of personal property installed by a tenant under the terms of a lease for purposes of use in his or her trade or business, Trade fixtures are removable by the tenant before the ...

Individual making the payments in a mortgage or pledging a mortgage or property. ...

A corporation that owns housing units and whose tenants purchase shares in the corporation equivalent to the value of their housing unit. Also called co-ops. ...

Principal highway designed to divert traffic around a major urban area in order to limit congestion and expedite traffic flow. A belt highway is connected to the urban area by main highways ...

The transfer of a property deed from one person to another without publicly recording it. The recording of a deed in a public office gives constructive notice of the act of the sale and ...

Rights granted to owners of property restricted to conservation use, historic preservation, or some other low density function to sell to other landowners allowing them to develop their ...

Popular Real Estate Questions