Wow that title looks like a Netflix Horror thriller! This post is really about my first buy and hold rental property. It’s one of those stories where you might say “someday I’ll laugh about this!” It may be a little too recent for that right now and I doubt I ever do. It is a rather sad story.

I had my rental house remodeled and ready to show and posted it in all the usual places: Realtor.com, Zillow, Craigslist and Facebook marketplace. My daughter lives in the small town where the rental was located. She told me about a nifty Facebook group where people post local news. She said they also post rentals available, so that’s where a lot of people in town look. I signed up and was approved as a member of the group and immediately posted my ad for the rental house.

One big plus for Facebook groups is that if a member of the groups knows of someone else who is looking for a rental house, they’ll call it to their attention by tagging them in the comments. I was expecting to rent that house right away. From what I observed on that Facebook group, rentals were in short supply and there were lots of posts with people looking for rentals there and tagging friends to let them know when one was available.

“Is this the murder-suicide house?” That was one of the first comments on the Facebook Group’s post for my rental house! Someone else responded with a link for the TV news story. The photo with the story showed police cars parked up and down the street in front of my new rental house! This is one of those cases that proves that it isn’t necessarily true that “all publicity is good publicity!”

And no, if you’re wondering; the realtor did not disclose this history when I purchased the house. I did a quick google search to find out if he should have. Apparently in Kansas, sellers are not required to disclose a death in the house, but the Kansas Realtor’s Association recommends that they DO disclose. Fortunately, that Facebook comment was not where I first found out what had happened. The neighbors around there were very friendly and chatted with me often while I was doing the remodel. Everyone around there knew the older couple who had originally owned the home. They were very well liked. The man had ran a Heat and Air business in the town for many years and apparently had even performed free repairs for needy people to restore their heat. They sounded like people I would have really liked!

A couple of weeks before I advertised my rental, I had a company come out to service the furnace on that rental house. The furnace was only three years old and it turns out it still had a transferrable warranty. The technician who came out actually used to work with the gentleman who had owned the house. He had known him and his wife well. The neighbors had always talked about the man and not his wife and somehow I had picked up the impression that the wife had passed away years before. I asked the Heat and Air guy how long the wife had been gone. He paused and then said, “You haven’t heard the story have you?” Indeed, at that point I didn’t even know there was a story!

The Heat and Air Technician told me what had happened. Later when I brought it up with the next door neighbor, she filled me in on the rest of the story. The couple who had lived there were life-long residents. He had ran his Heat and Air business in town for many years, so nearly everyone knew them. They bought the house when it was first built in 1952. He retired and closed the business in 1995. The couple were now in their 80’s and sadly the wife had developed dementia. The husband faithfully cared for her at home for several years. He promised her that he would never put her in a nursing home. Unfortunately, he was now losing his own mobility. Some neighbors had also been helping them out, but the sad truth was, it was past time that they needed additional help. The couple had two children, but the son lived in California and the daughter lived in Georgia. A neighbor called the son and he flew out that same day. While there, he made arrangements to get the parents moved to a nursing home. When the couple’s son returned to the house, he found both parents dead. The police tagged it as an apparent murder-suicide. Now how sad is that?

Suddenly many of the things about the property now made sense. There were some strange things that should have tipped me off, but I didn’t really think about it at the time. I was just excited to get started with the remodel work. Several cabinets were still stocked up with household items. One kitchen drawer was full of hand tools. There were cleaning supplies still in the linen closet in the hallway. There was a big safe in one bedroom. Out in the garage and shed were yet more tools. It was a tool bonanza! There was also a custom made cabinet in the garage for fishing rods and gear. There was a fishing rod in every slot and hooks and lures. OK…it was also a fishing bonanza! Lot of gardening supplies were left in the shed. I had been told that the brother and sister had hired someone local to clean out the house. They apparently cleaned out the furniture, but that was about it. No one was there to follow up.

When I saw that Facebook post, and all the subsequent comments referring to the house as the Murder-Suicide house, I somehow knew exactly what needed to be said. I added my own comment: “Actually this was the “F--------‘s“ house. This was a tragic and sad end for these long-time residents.” End of discussion.

I did disclose the history to everyone who enquired about renting the house. I didn’t want someone to be blind-sided, then upset, and then leave prematurely. This was my first time having to sort through applications and deal with potential tenants. It was a surprise to me how long it took. The history of the house filtered out many. In the end I found a truly wonderful tenant who told me she never plans to move again. Since moving in, she has repeatedly expressed how much she loves the house. I’m glad now for those who walked away.

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