Pre-Owned Grave Plots for Sale
Today’s question
“Did they just move the headstones or did they move the bodies too?” I asked my father.
Dad had been intimately involved in the both the flooding of the valley and later the capture of Atlantic salmon to truck over the Mactaquac dam.
“They moved everything they could find.” he said.
In Dumfries New Brunswick the Mactaquac Hydro dam flooded the Saint John River Valley in the late sixties. They moved the soon to be under water cemetery to higher ground.
I drove the old highway along the Saint John river years before the four lane highway. Stopping about every five years a filling station at Dumpfries New Brunswick.
I went in to pay for my fuel. Leaning against the glass covered in posters two locals were entertained buy a third. He came through the door talking. He saw me as fresh ears for old stories and began his story again.
“The last time I bought a burial plot it was $2.00 and a half mile out there,” he said. Pointing to the middle of the Saint John River. We all looked at the head pond.”
“This time up on that hill it cost me $200.” he said.
We all looked at the wiper display behind the counter.
I appreciate a good inflation story. Everybody got a giggle by the fact that I was enjoying the narrative.
“Tell me, when they moved the cemetery, did they just move the headstones or did they in fact move the bodies?” I asked.
Answering in the same instant, the 2 old-timers now sitting on the broad ledge below a poster guaranteeing clean rest rooms. One said “yes” and one said “no.”
“Did the pre sold plots get refunds or credits for the new amount or old amount, I asked? The second question killed the buzz.
In a client meeting I was asked, “how do I sell a burial plot?”
Googling it there appeared to be as many people selling unwanted burial plots as there are companies offering to get you out of time shares contracts. But not as many as there are reverse mortgages companies.
I found the following.
Reach out to the cemetery, you’re going to need some answers and some paperwork. Options like consider a cemetary plot broker. There’s a number of companies interested in brokering your plot. Like Plot Brokers.com and Grave solutions.com,
Get quote and book now.
They have get quote web site featues like mine.https://www.omegafinancialinc.ca/get-a-quote/
For a fee and possibly a commission they’ll list your burial plot, sell and handle the transaction.
If you price it right and go at least 20% below the market price or current price you’ll find that scammers will step forward, but you may also find somebody with money to actually make the purchase.
There was an interesting situation at Toronto’s Pine Hills cemetery. In 1985 the plots were selling for $340. and in 2024 are going for $4,445.
You may have a taxable gain.
The nformation online and how many people have formal websites to help dispose of unwanted burial plots was a surprise. You could write a book about what I don”t know about this subject.
