Back in the 1950s, there was a Mortician in the Suburbs of Chicago, who also had a Butcher shop Downtown. He got caught when they exhumed some of the Suburban Patrons and found only the upper torsos were occupying the Caskets . . . . just enough to provide memories.

You'd have thought that the PallBearers would have noticed an absence of weight; but that's not their regular line of work.

Was his name Sweeney Todd?

In my market getting something approved for a funeral home zoning use is not easy.

Keep in mind that this is one of those businesses like food & garbage that will always be around.

As far as the post on active marketing, I agree completely! You can contact associations specific to funeral homes, use national databases like ReferenceUSA or do yellow pages searches to find other owners and then contact them! I think you are most effective by emailing or mailing first and then following up with a phone call and then sending a thank you note to whoever you talked to. This costs money and takes time, but you may be in for a pretty decent commission afterwards!

Most agents do the passive stuff, which sounds active (putting it on Loopnet, signage, MLS etc.) but if you go in with a mortuary association's contacts or list of companies that you plan on contacting, you show that you are serious, professional and motivated (NOTE: DO NOT GIVE THEM THE LIST - OR TAKE OFF THE CONTACT NUMBERS AND EMAILS). That will differentiate you and help you get the listing.

I think it's pretty hard since most of these businesses are family run and they cover certain areas. In my town the funeral home built a bigger place a few miles down the road and is trying to sell their old place. No takers in the past 2 years.

IMO money would be well spend renovating the place into something else before selling. Maybe a general office space of some kind.

And sometimes they'll cripple their opportunity for selling by insisting on inserting a Covenant to not Compete in the Deed, when it was that very kind of business that the place has become known for in the Community !

I have heard that the market for funeral homes is dead.

we had a funeral home that was later used as a wallpaper outlet - it took me years to forget what it was previously used for, its a great place to get wallpaper. Then there's another place down the road from me, first it was a church, then a funeral home and now it's a church again.

[i]"choose us first or choose us last, either way, we're your last stop"[/i]

That's funny...I've heard people are dying to get into it! (Sorry=0)