LIVING WITHIN THE SHADOW

When Medford real estate agent Brian Luzny showed a house at 1680 E. Spring St. to potential buyers last year, he made sure to cover everything.

He described the assets of the single-story dwelling on Medford’s east side, but he also noted potential liabilities: a busy street, a nearby business — and the recent murder of a 28- year-old mother of two.

As far as Luzny was concerned, folks considering the home had the right to know that Dawn Glick had been strangled in the house by her estranged husband.

"We pointed out the spot where she was found and everything," Luzny said.

Within a month of Glick’s murder on March 10, 2003, the house was sold. Buyer Justin Thurmond paid $158,000, about $12,000 less than the previous selling price a year earlier. He said a nice house and a good deal outweighed any stigma of murder.

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"It didn’t bother me at all, actually," said Thurmond, who designs houses for his family’s firm, Thurmond Construction. "It’s my first house I ever bought and I was excited."

Thurmond said he views real estate with the same detachment he has toward any other financial arrangement.

"I moved a lot growing up," he said. "I’m not emotionally invested in a house."

But Thurmond’s perspective is not necessarily shared by most — or even many — potential home buyers. In fact, a history of death in a house can be a thorny issue that poses complicated practical and emotional dilemmas for buyers, sellers and real estate agents alike.

"It’s a hard one in terms of how you frame it," explained Rick Harris, an Ashland principal real estate broker and president of the Oregon Association of Realtors. "It crosses a lot of interesting lines: cultural expectations, social expectations, natural vs. unnatural death, privacy for the families."

It may surprise many potential buyers to know that sellers are not obligated under Oregon law to disclose the fact or suspicion of a death, whether by natural causes, violence, suicide or any other manner.

"Death in the house has been determined not to be a ‘material fact,’ " said Harris. "The state statute says it’s not material, but it’s often very material for the buyers."

Under the statute, sellers need not disclose whether a home or a neighboring home was the site of a crime; whether previous occupants had HIV or AIDS; whether a registered sex offender lives in the area; or whether a neighboring property has been determined "not fit for use" because it was a site of illegal drug manufacture.

For some buyers, however, the mere fact of death in a house would be a deal-breaker.

"There are many cultures in the world where it would be a problem; they would not buy the home," Harris explained. "The whole concept of death in a house could be a problem psychically or intellectually."

For other buyers, of course, it’s not an issue.

"There’s a buyer for every home," Luzny said.

That disparity requires home sellers and agents to balance legal obligations about disclosure with more subtle obligations, the agents said.

"I always want to tell everybody the truth," Luzny said. "In the case of Justin’s house, I didn’t have to tell him, but I did because it was the right thing to do."

Thurmond, who may sell the house one day, agreed.

"If I was to sell it again, I wouldn’t have to disclose (Glick’s death), but I probably would. I think it’s best to be upfront. It would probably come up."

In the case of a high-profile murder, avoiding the fact of death might be impossible. But for home buyers wondering whether a potential dwelling has a quieter history of death, a little homework is in order.

First, buyers should let their real estate agents know if they feel strongly about living in a home where death occurred.

Many people might not think to ask, and they’d be surprised later, Harris said. A real estate agent might not disclose the fact of death, especially if a seller instructs the agent not to, but home buyers can find out just the same.

The best way is to request a history of all police incidents recorded for a specific address, said Medford Police Lt. Mike Moran. A local law enforcement agency can easily produce the records, which are public, and a home buyer can ask about any suspicious incident.

It’s up to sellers to be as honest as they can, for buyers to be as informed as they can, and for agents to be as helpful as they can, said Harris.

To ensure that that happens more often in real estate transactions, he suggested a caveat:

"What you try to do is say, not, ‘Buyer, beware,’ " he said, "but instead, you say, ‘Buyer, take care.’ "