Who Doesn’t Want to be a Mythbuster

What is your am usually looking up real estate trends and articles that deal with the actual numbers when it comes to home sales in the local market. I wanted to go a different route for my blog today. I came across an interesting article that is about “amazing facts in Real Estate.” I know that we can’t believe everything we read on the internet but we can research almost anything to the point of it being true or falsified. So I picked a few of these amazing facts and went on a fact-finding mission. I came across some pretty cool stuff along the way.

Researched “Fact”: Brass doorknobs disinfect themselves.

For centuries brass has been the metal of choice for door knobs. In recent years design trends have shifted to brushed nickel coated steel and recently to black coated steel. But there may have been a reason brass was popular for so long … it actually kills bacteria. As many infections can be spread by door knobs, it’s interesting to note that a brass knob (unvarnished) will disinfect itself in about seven hours. Steel, Stainless Steel, and Aluminum knobs will never disinfect themselves. This effect was discovered by Swiss botanist Carl von Nageli in the 1890’s and is known as the Oligodynamic effect. There is a catch though, to get the most disinfectant benefit from your brass door knobs you have to remove the coating that manufacturers put on them. Paint stripper will do it. I researched and Wiki’d and looked. My determination is that this is true! Make sureour knobs are brass!

Researched “Fact”: It is a legal requirement in New York for a seller to disclose if a house is haunted.

Oooh, creepy one. So if you live in New York, you want to sell your house, and you believe it to be haunted, your are legally obligated to tell potential buyers. Do you think New Yorkers really have to disclose this? Can a house really be haunted? Would you buy a haunted house? Do buyers have a right to know if a house is haunted? The law requires certain structural details to be disclosed when a home is up for sale, but what about paranormal details? The research I did show some interesting facts. Let’s start with Stambovsky v. Ackley, this is a famous New York court case where the buyer of a home successfully withdrew from the purchase of a home when he found out it was haunted. The seller had apparently disclosed it was haunted and told the story to Reader’s Digest prior to trying to sell it. The seller never disclosed this to the buyer and when the buyer discovered it, quickly recanted his offer. Since you can’t just pull out of a home purchase for no good reason and keep your initial deposit, the buyer had to prove that there was a good reason. To make a long story short, the buyer won that battle, but when the news got out, a whole new series of buyers eagerly placed offers on the home. There was a market for haunted houses! So my opinion of this, from the research, is that it is a legal obligation in New York to disclose if a buyer believes the house is haunted, but it may actually help them sell it!

Final Researched “Fact”: In Scotland, homeowners paint their doors red when they pay off their mortgage.

What I found: In biblical times many religious groups including Catholic, Episcopal, and Judaism believe that having a red door meant that all beyond that door was holy ground. This may explain why many churches, synagogues and places of prayer have a red door. And in Feng Shui, the door to a home is considered the mouth of a home. By painting the door red the positive energy associated with the color red is drawn to the home. Many doors will be painted with a fresh coat of red paint to signify the Chinese New Year and invite good luck and happiness. In every case, during the research, I found that a home with a red door signifies a sign of
welcome. So the Scotland fact proves to be true, and maybe I’ll paint my door red so I can receive some of those good vibes.

In conclusion, I want to say that you still can’t believe everything you read on the internet, but the world is full of wonder and amazing things. Real estate is a great business and it has an impact on every person in the world.
Whether it is a piece of land, a straw hut, or a mansion… everyone needs a place to call their own.