Personal Finance Advice

YES, I would tell you to buyt the house. My best friend lives next to a cemetary and she loves it (but not for creepy reasons.) She says it is always fairly quiet as her neighbors on one side aren’t active. It’s a nice place to look a with the landscaping and flowers. She takes strolls through there. When she was looking to buy the house, she was concerned too. But it turns out that having a cemetary next door will not necessaily make the value of the house go down. More people than not like the idea of living next to something so peaceful. She says it certaily beats living next door to a house with kids, dogs, and screaming couples. Good uck!

I’d expect the price to be somewhat lower than comparable houses in more “desireable” locations. But the rate of appreciation should be the same as for other houses in the area, so in the long term they would do OK as long as they didn’t overpay at the start (same as for any other real estate purchase). They might have a problem if they ever had to get a quick sale as the pool of potential buyers may be smaller, so in a “fire sale” the mark-down may be more severe. But this also applies to other houses that have an aspect that puts off some potential buyers, such as being next to a school, on a busy road, too isolated, too crowded etc. etc.

I don’t know about others, but that would totally freak me out. There is no way that I would ever buy a house next to a cemetery no matter how much I liked it.

Any hit to the price should be constant, meaning you should be able to benefit from it (by being able to buy the house at a lower price) just as much as you would be hurt by it in the future. My sister lived near a graveyard in college, and the only problem she ever had was that their was a lot of crime in the graveyard at night. As long as it is well kept this shouldn’t be a problem though.

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I would much rather live next to a cemetery than an airport, school, or a busy street. It would even be preferable to an empty field, since you never know when a field would get developed. I say go for it.

cemeteries are indeed quiet, and usually well kept.

I say go for it.

As someone else said, I’d expect that any discount in sales price later would also be present in the purchase price now.

Practical concerns:
–Late night parties/vandalism by kids, so perhaps check local police records
–Large funerals blocking you in, so check distance and routes to the entrance, available parking, etc.

Buy it, I live next to a cemetary and it is very quite and a nice green space.

IMHO, if you have to ask, then it’s the wrong location.

“IMHO, if you have to ask, then it’s the wrong location.”

Why is that? It sounds like the original letter writer is just researching and exploring possible future consequences of a major purchase - perfectly normal. I didn’t get the impression that anything about the house or its location was bothersome to her or her husband.

I guess what I meant was that there are a bazillion properties out there, many many of which are not located next to cemetaries, highways, or hog rendering plants. So I guess what I meant to say was, if you have to wonder if you’re buying an iffy property in an iffy location…..

The person did say the house was great except “for one problem.” So that’s what I was getting at.

I don’t see why this would be a big issue, especially if you can get a good discount going into the deal. I would recommend looking into the history of the house - not that I believe in haunting, but if it has a reputation of such, that could make it extrememly difficult to sell.

I must echo the comments of Koppur (#1) and savvy (#5): Unless you will be selling to superstitious people, a cemetary should be viewed as providing peaceful and ‘quiet’ neighbors. I mean no disrespect to the dead, but I would rather look at tombstones than car traffic or a continuous stream of open-pipe motorcycles (let alone hear them).

I see no reason why a cemetery would devalue a property. In fact, in personally would consider it a big plus becus you’d know your neighbors would be quiet!

We just looked at a house for sale that has a back yard against a cemetary. It didnt bother me, and the house was at a discount, but it bothers my wife. The house even happens to be close to public transportation and good in many other ways. We won’t be buying it though. Is there any concern about the soil quality or effect to your yard living next to a cemetary?

Different people have different ideas. My grandad used to be a park keeper and for years lived with his family in the cemetery house/office.
After seeing our local area go down hill with anti social behaviour, we have just bought the cemetery house to renovate and live in. It’s a one off listed building and I tell you I can’t wait to be surrounded by lovely green space thats so peaceful and quiet.

I am a housewife with 5 kids, and we have to get out of our 2 bdrm apt. The only affordable house we found is a 2 family on a 80*100 lot with an inground pool and 4 car garage behind a cemetery. I will look at it tomorrow. im still nervous.

We lived across the street from a cemetary when I was in high school. We had the prettiest yard because of all the bulbs we found in the compost pile. We did not have vandals at night –maybe because the cemetary was small and cars could be seen from the road. My only concern would be if you would be blocked in during a funeral. I would make it my business to be sitting there to see where people park and if the house’s driveway is blocked. Other than that, go for it.

I’d buy it. I love cemetaries. Look at it as a historical site, one that isn’t ever in danger of being razed.

I would be concerned about traffic into and out of the cemetary during funerals. Also, possibly ghosts.