Stigmatized Property
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!
Popular Real Estate Terms
The substitution of one person or business for another when the substituted person or business has the same rights and obligations as the original party. An insurance company can surogate ...
(1) Methods that involve discounting the future cash flows generated by an income property. These techniques are used primarily for valuation. (2) Methods of selecting and ranking ...
Tax-free exchange that allows a seller two years after escrow closes on his former principal personal residence to buy like-kind property and defer taxes. Profits from the sale of a ...
Title granted to those having expertise in valuing homes by the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers. ...
See historic structure. ...
An interest rate charged on a loan that exceeds the legal maximum interest rate within the state. It is illegal to do so. The maximum interest rate may depend on the type of lender and ...
An interest in property with the right o possession being postponed into the future until a certain even occurs. There are several possibilities where a future interest in property could ...
Highest bid to buy and the lowest offer to sell a parcel of real estate in a particular market at a specified time. ...
Residential or office structure adjacent to water such as a lake. Such property has a higher value because of the greater demand for it. ...

Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.