Here are some great tips for selling your cemetery property, graves and burial plots.
It’s the second in a series of articles to help you get a quick sale at the best price.
What is the best way to sell cemetery property? How do you value the plots? And what does the sales process look like?
Let’s go through these in turn.
People sell unwanted cemetery property for many reasons. But although burial plots share some characteristics with traditional assets and real estate, selling them requires a different approach due to their unique nature.
Factors That Affect Cemetery Plot Sales
Understanding the factors that affect cemetery property and grave plot sales is critical for success.
Let’s start by examining the market for plots:
1. Limited market for selling cemetery plots
Firstly, people don’t buy or sell cemetery property as frequently as other types of assets. The market for cemetery plots is much smaller than for traditional real estate. It can be hyper-local, with a low volume of transactions.
For sellers, this tends to result in a slow process and difficulty finding buyers for their graves and burial plots. Indeed, unfashionable styles of plot, or cemetery property in less popular locations often takes many months or even years to sell.
2. Buyer demographics
Unquestionably, plot buyers have highly specific requirements and search for a very close match to their needs. They care about which cemetery, what type of plot (e.g. grave, niche, crypt), and even the location of the plot within the cemetery. Typically, buyers will analyze the cemetery’s reputation, fees and maintenance costs before making a purchase.
Buyers will only be interested in your plot if it perfectly matches their needs, and that’s before you even begin to negotiate the price!
So as you can see, identifying, targeting and reaching potential buyers for your plot is very challenging.
3. Complex process to sell cemetery plots
Furthermore, each cemetery has its own rules, fees, and regulations regarding the transfer and sale of burial plots. Cemetery property sales always involve complex paperwork and require specific legal steps.
This adds time and difficulty to the sales process, and must be navigated correctly, otherwise no transfer or sale can occur.
4. Plot sales require extensive legal documentation
Undoubtedly, burial plots are expensive. Nobody wants to fall victim to scammers, whether they be a buyer, seller, or cemetery owner.
For this reason, states have enacted strict laws regarding proof of ownership of cemetery property, plot deeds, and heirship rights.
Cemeteries demand highly specific legal documentation for transfers. They perform detailed checks to validate that everything is in order regarding all buyers and sellers.
Plot sellers must prove that they own the cemetery property for sale and have the legal right to sell it.
Additional steps and hurdles are involved if the original plot owner of record is deceased, if the deed was lost, or if the seller is acting on behalf of another individual such as a parent.
Cemeteries usually require you to obtain multiple notarized signatures, frequently within a limited timeframe. If paperwork is missing, incomplete or wrongly filled out at any stage, the sale cannot proceed.
5. Final tip for selling cemetery plots: Price them right!
Lastly, valuing your cemetery property requires skill, experience and current market knowledge.
You must consider many factors including which cemetery, the location within the memorial park, the type of plot, prepaid services, transfer fees and additional costs.
Sellers need a working knowledge of local market trends, buyer preferences, recent comparable sale prices, and must also have the skill to account for the unique characteristics of their cemetery property. You will need to factor in all these things to price your burial plots accurately and competitively.
Try using these tips for selling your cemetery property and grave plots for your best chance of success.
Now you are probably asking where is the best place to sell graves? And what is the fastest way to sell cemetery property?
Click here to find out: The Ultimate Guide to Selling Cemetery Property.
Most people find the easiest, quickest and most reliable way to sell cemetery property or grave plots is to use a reputable licensed cemetery broker. Read our article about how to do this, and also learn about other methods such as listing your property and finding a buyer yourself, or selling it back to the cemetery.
A Full Service Cemetery Broker
At Bayer Cemetery Brokers, we understand the importance of preserving the memory of loved ones. For over 25 years we have helped families in Southern California and beyond find the perfect resting place for their loved ones at the most cost-effective price.
If you’re interested in purchasing cemetery property, or if you have a burial plot or grave you want to sell we are here to help: Contact us here
We are licensed and bonded by the California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau.