Nov 5, 2009 1:49 pm US/Eastern
More Turn To Selling Grave Plots To Meet Bills
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Cash for gold, unloading the house, and even selling the car are ways people are trying to get some extra money to pay bills, but would you trade eternal rest for some cold hard cash?
John Dotson planned to spend eternity at a heavenly spot in a local cemetery. "We bought these burial plots back in 1990. After that, I really didn't think much of them for a long time," he said.
But after his wife lost her job and they faced mounting bills from breast cancer, they looked to that little piece of land as a way to pay for their bills, according to CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City.
"Catching up on bills, basically, that's about it," Dotson said.
"In some cases, I've been told, just to put food on the table or pay their monthly mortgage," said Gregg Williamson of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association.
Some sell because they move or opt for cremation, which can cost a third or less than a traditional burial, and increasingly they're putting up those plots for sale online at sites like PlotBrokers and AmericanCemeteryProperty.com.
Ken Brant of GraveSolutions.com has seen a 10 percent spike in the past year. "It's a way of raising some cash, and also it's a way for buyers who want property and don't have much money to find bargains. People sell property at a much cheaper price than what the cemetery sells them for."
Sometimes as much as half off.
Each of these broker sites charge an up front fee, and like traditional real estate sales, you can even go with a multiple listing service.
"The customer is offering a commission to anybody out there who sells the property for them," Brant said.
And much like home prices, the costs of burial plots are dropping. "I originally put it in for, like, $2,800, and then didn't get too much response, so I've lowered it to, like, to about $2,500," said Dotson.
Experts said it's important to make sure the seller can provide a proper certificate of ownership, and to ask exactly what you get with your plot.
"Does it also include possibility of an opening and closing? A vault? A marker? An upright monument?" Williamson suggested.
These are not quick sells, though. It can take anywhere from weeks to years to unload a burial plot. At the online sites it averages fifteen months.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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