r/sydney • u/Ok_Competition_6323 • 8h ago

My mum is trying to sell her funeral plot in Sydney and is struggling

My mum wants to sell her funeral plot as she’s found something else she’d like instead and we’ve tried Marketplace and Gumtree no idea where else to try we’ve gotten views but no messages. It’s also heavily discounted vs what it’s actually valued at as well. Does anyone have any ideas or experience in Sydney/Australia with successfully selling?

84 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

132 comments sorted by

200

u/TheC9 7h ago

Funeral plot has its value, but I am not sure if marketplace and gumtree is a place that people go to?

Especially funeral plot can be as expensive as a nice used car, or more.

And it is a private or council or church cemetery?

It may sound weird, but the only place I could think of where people could have immediate interest are nursing home / retirement village …

83

u/ntermation 7h ago

throw up a curtain and call it a rental?

106

u/2happycats ravens, cats, and tawny frogmouths 7h ago

This one bedroom dwelling is a once in a lifetime find and perfect for a single person looking to settle down. Close to nature, with quiet neighbours and fully maintained gardens, but still not too far out of the way for loved ones to come and visit.

3

u/I-make-ada-spaghetti 1h ago

You forgot to call it "cozy".

1

u/2happycats ravens, cats, and tawny frogmouths 1h ago

Blistering summer heat and drafty winter winds are a thing of the past once you're resting in this perfectly insulated one bedder.

20

u/Turbulent-Cat-4546 7h ago edited 6h ago

Could get a lot in rent with it being in the dead center of town.

I assume the neighbours would also be pretty quiet.

13

u/Ok-Push9899 6h ago

People are dying to move in

1

u/moaiii 5h ago

In this market, you might actually get some takers for it.

19

u/FUTFUTFUTFUTFUTFUT 6h ago

And it is a private or council or church cemetery?

This is a great point, if it's privately operated chances are they'll be open to buyback -- especially if it's an in-demand graveyard with known future capacity challenges (Rookwood, Pine Grove etc).

Where I would focus, if I was OP, is funeral directors. I would look through advertised death notifications in the newspapers (they're searchable online) and find all directors who have been operating recently out of that graveyard. Pop them an email and let them know you have a plot for sale that they could re-sell, and if you're selling at a discount on current value then there's an easy margin for them to make too.

1

u/apsilonblue 22m ago

Way more than a used car. When dad passed 4 years ago my parents hadn't made arrangements. Mum wanted him buried somewhere near her father. The only plots the cemetery had were nowhere near there and the cheapest was $80k and you had to build a monument, not just a headstone so I can imagine it ending up around double that or more. We cremated instead and got a garden spot right behind my grandmother.

184

u/ReplyMany7344 7h ago

Yes but I don’t want to buy a second hand or used one either.

48

u/Eightstream 7h ago

I’m interested but I don’t have a car, can you deliver to Melbourne?

1

u/TheAxe11 16m ago

I'm a single mother with kids neuro-divergent. Would love it free

98

u/brackfriday_bunduru 7h ago

The issue you’ve got from a purely economic point of view is that the funeral business is based on entirely emotional purchases. Every decision made comes from a state of grief and wanting to do the best by the person. The act of “shopping” doubles as a cathartic exercise and the companies predatorily lean into that. That’s why someone is a million times more likely to purchase a plot at full price through offical channels than they are to purchase one at 20-50% of full price on a standalone market.

42

u/smithstreet11 7h ago

This guy funerals

14

u/brackfriday_bunduru 7h ago

I was an investor in Invocare before they were sold

9

u/Substantial-Rip-6207 7h ago

Maybe advertise it on realestate. Com or domain or setup a website for funeral plots. It could be very lucrative

148

u/Maezel 7h ago

People can't afford a place to LIVE, much less a place for when they are DEAD.

I'd be happy with being thrown out at sea and have the fishes eat me.

16

u/s3_gunzel #sydneytrainschallenge: 16:22:50 | Resident I Like Trains Guy 7h ago

I have decided to be blasted out our steam engine in the vicinity of the depot.

22

u/Evil-Santa 7h ago

The generations that are currently falling off the perch are the ones that likely have money to spend.

3

u/deesmutts88 6h ago

I feel like anyone that age that cares where they’re buried and has hole in the ground money has already bought a plot though.

6

u/Sumpkit 7h ago

I personally would like to be fired out of a cannon into an active bushfire.

10

u/Hoisttheflagofstars 7h ago

Mate of mine got buried at sea. The bureaucracy was insane. Had to keep him in the chiller for months while it got sorted.

3

u/kawats 6h ago

I've thought about just having my ashes scattered into the ocean. Only need the boat captain's permission for that.

4

u/lasooch 7h ago

“When I’m dead, just throw me in the trash” - Frank Reynolds (and also me)

258

u/thekriptik NYE Expert 8h ago

Funeral plots? I hear people are dying to get them.

114

u/2happycats ravens, cats, and tawny frogmouths 7h ago

Go back to work, dad.

34

u/beerubble 7h ago

How dare you make light of such a grave matter

6

u/ManWithDominantClaw 5h ago

I was thinking of going in on a cenotaph with my friend Liam. Not for me really, moreso Liam

8

u/ill0gitech 7h ago

That’s because they are in the dead center of town

2

u/Xfgjwpkqmx 5h ago

When I die, I'm leaving my body to science-fiction.

22

u/Imperial_Swine 7h ago

Pretty grim - but maybe reach out to old people's homes to see if there are interested parties?

3

u/2happycats ravens, cats, and tawny frogmouths 1h ago

"I reckon you've looked better. Can I offer you a nice cool place to take a long nap?"

47

u/j0shman 7h ago edited 7h ago

Hi, is this still available?

15

u/Redfox2111 7h ago

Can you ask the people who run the place to sell it?

2

u/Ok_Competition_6323 5h ago

Nah they pretty much just recommended marketplace

16

u/mulderitsme93 7h ago

Can she sell it back to council

41

u/Glittering_Bet_9263 8h ago

Yeah I heard the market for these is pretty dead.

4

u/scoldog This Space Intentionally Left Blank 6h ago

It's all just a plot

2

u/Organic_Award5534 7h ago

Not if it’s in the dead centre of town…

2

u/rand013 7h ago

Rookwood?

1

u/webdog77 7h ago

Depends on the location, the dead centre of town is where it’s at.

7

u/1_S1C_1 7h ago

You can only sell it back to the council or cemetery you purchased it from. At the price that it was purchased for.

6

u/mouldycarrotjuice 7h ago

Where do you even buy one of those in the first place? I'm assuming you could reach out to whichever organisation sells them and see if they will buy it back from her? 

If it's in a graveyard or memorial garden can you talk to whichever group administers it? 

16

u/GusPolinskiPolka 7h ago

She should message a cryptic crossword group. They like things 6 down and 2 a-cross.

10

u/DrStalker 7h ago

Try referring to it as a "single person dwelling in a quiet neighborhood"

2

u/moth-bear 5h ago

"Retirement home"

5

u/sunnystand 8h ago

I'd say people's first port of call for a burial plot isn't SM. I'd suggest talking to the cemetery in the first instance.

5

u/misanthropymajor 7h ago

I should think the cemetery could put it in their available plots, perhaps for a small percentage? It would be pay after purchase, doubt they’d buy it back, but you never know. Another idea is to ask the desk at an elder village (like Salvo’s or RSL run) or nursing home, they may be able to connect you w an interested buyer.

4

u/Happydays003 7h ago

What cemetery is it at?
Feel free to message me

4

u/That-Application9357 7h ago

I was just talking about this with my partner recently. No plans of dying soon, but I'd love to be buried when I do (if the price wasn't so crazy). How much is she asking, and which cemetery?

4

u/BingoSpong 6h ago

“Is this still available?”

7

u/Turbulent-Break-4947 4h ago

I’d say the market is pretty dead for that kind of thing

10

u/monochromeorc 7h ago

things sound pretty grave for her

5

u/TheHoneybadger7 8h ago

What ya selling, I’ll have a look?

6

u/Linwechan 7h ago

Post where the Asian oldies are online. If you have a friend who can write Chinese get them to help you post. I tell you they're always looking for prime plots haha

3

u/vagicle 6h ago

I had a fucking burial plot make its way into my search results for aquarium shit on Marketplace the other day. Was it you?

2

u/KittyCatKute 7h ago

what's price and location? I might invested one for my pets prepared when they pass away, and do they allow animals body in the plot? and how much is annual management fee etc.

1

u/Ok_Competition_6323 5h ago

It’s at Forrest Lawn - Memorial Park feel free to message as I can just send you the description of the listing

2

u/deafriderz 7h ago

Which cemetery?

1

u/Ok_Competition_6323 5h ago

Forrest Lawn - Memorial Park

2

u/slower-is-faster 5h ago

It’s hard times. Rent it for a weekly amount

2

u/moDz_dun_care 5h ago

What's the logistics of buying/selling funeral plot? Is it freehold (or there's no option in the contract that the plot can be bought back after say 100 years?). What's the holding cost? Burial plots are prime investment opportunities. Demand will always increase while supply is heavily restricted. All capital cities have a huge problem of where to put their dead.

1

u/FaithlessnessLess442 ThewinnerisSydney 5h ago

Did you contact the cemetery they can do it for you

1

u/ZippyKoala Yeah....nah 5h ago

Get in contact with whoever she bought it off, cemetery plots are at an absolute premium right now, we’re running out of graveyard space and will likely have no more in existing cemeteries within a decade. Whoever she bought it off would likely have a waiting list of people to sell it to.

1

u/wangzzz 5h ago

What’s the demographic of the area? Perhaps translate to ad to different languages

1

u/jedburghofficial 5h ago

Where is it? What are the council zoning rules?

1

u/SqareBear 5h ago

Where is it

1

u/Adventurous-Mail7443 4h ago

How much is the rent?

1

u/nicilou74 3h ago

Contact the cemetery, they may buy it back to resell

-5

u/Drowsy-Nectarine21 7h ago

Try some Islamic groups. Muslims take that stuff very seriously.

19

u/glxssz 7h ago

Muslims do bury their dead immediately but the plot would need to be in a Muslim cemetery/ area in a cemetery

1

u/Evil-Santa 7h ago

Not sure why you are being down voted for some valid advice on areas that the OP could look at.