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With national reports coming in left, right and center telling us the property market is in the dumper, anyone trying to sell their home is aware of the importance of staging. Bake some brownies to give your place a homey smell, keep curtains open to provide natural light, eliminate any clutter – the list of recommendations goes on and on. And just as home owners know they need to set the stage to win a sale, home buyers are learning to look beyond the surface.

One couple from Wisconsin, however, got a nasty surprise on a recent viewing in Janesville. Justin and Colleen McKeen arranged to visit a local home with their agent, Linda Chabucos-Galow on Monday. They arrived at the home, nothing was amiss – but they did notice a bit of a smell, but this was quickly attributed to the stack of dishes in the sink.

A few short minutes later, Chabucos-Galow was waiting patiently in the dining room when she heart Mrs McKeen scream. Chabucos-Galow went to find the couple, standing in the doorway of the bedroom. “I thought, ‘What’s wrong?’ Maybe it was a dead mouse or something,” she said.

Turns out the home’s owner, Linda L O’Leary, was lying dead on the floor. The McKeens and their agent notified the authorities and left straight away. Officials noted that O’Leary had been dead for approximately two weeks and recorded the death as sudden, but not suspicious.