Do you have a ghost of a chance in this market?

Well, my friend Mary Pope Handy has some tips for you!

She's a Los Gatos Realtor, hosts the Haunted Real Estate web site.

She writes: Once a friend of mine and I walked into a home that just "felt creepy". There was a coldness to the house, we couldn't put our fingers on it but we agreed something really bad had to have happened there.

We've represented over 500 families, and have been in a lot of different homes. I once went into the basement of a home, and afterwards asked my client "What did you think of it?" She said "the house felt a bit odd, and the basement gave me the creeps. Now, it might have been a subliminal smell, or just the fact that there was a basement.. but I felt the same way!

Another time I was waiting for clients in a home in Oakland, and looked out of the window. I got a sense of timelessness (almost going back in time to the '20s) and felt that I was one of many who had done the same thing. Not really an unusual thought, considering it was a home built in the 1890's or so. It was also a serene thought - I felt that I was just part of a continuum of history.

When I mentioned it to the sellers, they said "The house was once owned by a doctor, and that was his waiting room. From time to time, friends have seen a pretty little girl in a white dress on the stairway"

Now, I'm an engineer by training, and my mantra might be closer to "Show me the data".. but I couldn't help but feel that there was something else going on.

I've asked my realtor friends about this.. and they all had similar stories!

Ira... delighted to be surrounded by Berkeley's Las Gatas, Puddy Maximus, and Poudini (who just jumped onto my chair)