I've recently found out that I am a Realtor in the running to list a funeral home. I know the owner will want someone aggressive and tech savvy. I'd like to go the the table with a killer marketing plan. The thing is, I really don't know where to start. Selling a funeral home is going to be much different than selling other commercial properties...anyone have any experience with this, or any ideas?

How about "Lots of people are just dieing to sleep here!"

I know I know...I just couldn't help myself

There have been several for sale in my market....mostly the mom and pop type operations. They have languished on the market for a very long time. Can someone say "stigma?" I had a buyer interested in one of them. He thought it would be neat to use the lift that raised the caskets from the basement...especially at Halloween!

I think that you're making it more complicated than it should be - other than the tigma, how is this any different than trying to sell a nightclub, bar, restaurant, yarn store, cell phone store, insurance agency, or church. They are all pretty specific uses.

Market it in the same venues and same way you market your other commercial properties. Create great marketing literature and brochures that are classy and upscale, and give the respect to the type of business, and you'll be on your way.

Darn, I was hoping to be the first one with an irreverent joke.
Hey, I have the perfect companion property for you - click here:

http://429cemeteryroad.wordpress.com

lol

I love the advertisement Perky! "The landscape is different, the neighbors are different, the finishing touches inside are different - sometimes in big ways, sometimes in small ways." So funny!
I like the idea of keeping the approach upscale and classy, really the only way to go and I think I can work well with that. I just can't think of who I would be marketing this property towards. I probably am over thinking this a bit, and it's silly, but I really want this listing. Mostly because I am really trying to get into the commercial side of real estate more, and partly because (this is where it gets childish) the owner and I have common friends on Facebook with another Realtor from my office that is basically my nemesis...and I'd so love to one up her.

One of the great things about listing a property on the MLS, is even if you can't think of a buyer in your own group of customers, some other agent out there might be looking for something just like this. Throw it out there...

If I may be frank, "tech savvy" agents really are the realm of residential real estate. Putting the property on the MLS, on your website, on your blog, on craigslist, and running newspaper ads, etc. are all PASSIVE forms of marketing.

Commercial owners will want to see how you will ACTIVELY market their property. Sure, still put it on the MLS, Loopnet and everywhere else, but you really need to make cold calls (by phone and in person) to your target prospects (other funeral homes).

Are both the real estate AND the business for sale? If so, is the business still operating? Also, if you haven't done any commercial work, you should really team up with someone in your office that has - bring them along to the listing presentation and seek their guidance during the process - and give them a healthy cut. Consider this deal training for the next one.

Do a Highest & Best Use analysis, consider alternative uses... IE: what else would could this property be used for? If it's in a good retail area, your Highest & Best Use analysis may indicate it could be more valuable for re-development (land value). I have done consulting and appraising on several that were altered to be used as office buildings, chapels, alternative/behavioral schools, and even a restaurant (no, the original building was not really used... most was D-9'd). It's not dissimilar to churches. I do a lot of those too, and have to step back to consider alternative uses... scratching my head to think, what would be a legal, conforming use?

Just because it was a funeral home, doesn't mean is must stay that forever. Here are some photos of a Beautiful Home that was in a prior use a funeral home. Many historical homes have had many different uses in prior lives. In the mid-west and east many were civil war hospitals.

So stress the positives.

We have a nice building that used to be a Mortuary/Funeral Parlour.

Got Foreclosed on after the Mortician Lost his License . . . . got caught leaving the Patrons sleeping out in the Hearse too long . . . . Days at a time ! Wasn't good P.R. so he's out. And other UnderTakers must of felt that this Guy's prior antics made the place a less than attractive place to move their existing businesses.

Investors bought the Bldg and converted it into an Office Condominium for Accountants and Attorneys (I think there may also be an Acupuncturist AAA !). No one has taken up occupancy in that Basement Suite yet. Smells okay too!

Yes... I agree a killer market plan is a must...LOL...I dont know what it is about funeral homes...but you have to be very careful about wording...even a simple word can be taken out of context

I heard there's a listing service specifically for funeral homes and graveyards. It's called...

Stiffnet

Heheh...I should have assumed that there would be a few jokes in response!

Neal - This actually wasn't a house, it was a restaurant at one time. We do have a very cool old funeral home in the area that has been converted back into a home, it's beautiful!
Vermont - That is gross! But good that someone has filled the space

Thank you all for your advice! Maybe if I just could get myself over being icked out by the thought of dead bodies, I'd get a lot further. I'm working on getting some things together.

Well I guess we know that this property could never be a restaurant again! LOL. Kind of reminds me of an old Vetenarian they turned into a butcher shop in Woodstock, GA.--Gross--.

Good luck with getting the listing! We jokers are pulling for you!

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)