My parents saved & prepared for their senior years. That included buying cemetery plots & making burial arrangements with a funeral home in the state they were living in at the time. We were all unaware that they could be buried in a National Cemetery since dad is a WW II vet. Meanwhile I convinced them to move to my town so I could help them as needed. Mom passed away in 2018 & is buried the the local National Cemetery & dad will be buried there when the time comes. We now have 2 fully paid cemetery plots & arrangements out of state that we won't use. My brother has tried to sell them by listing in newspapers, Craig's List, etc. but no luck, except for scammers. He finally listed them with a broker who deals in this sort of thing, but still no takers. Any ideas on how we can facilitate this? It would be nice to get back even some of their investment.
You might also contact friends and family from back home, if there's no problem with transferring, to make them all aware you want to sell. Might not happen right now, but someone will remember you told them if they have a need for someone who didn't make any arrangements.
You would get a write off of the value of the donation.
Someone would get a plot that they need.
I would contact a Hospice in your area and see if they would want them. They could use them for a family in need or they might be used as an item in a Fund Raising Silent Auction.
The Hospice I volunteer at has a high number of Pediatric Patients and I am sure many of them do not have extra funds for funeral arrangements or plots.
If so, I would think any arrangements that were made should be paid back. Mom's was set up as a trust. The problem is going to be the plots if the cemetery does not buy them back. I don't know why they wouldn't because they could sell them and make a pretty good profit.
When my Uncle bought his plots he bought 4 for $800 back in the 60s. My Aunt didn't wanted to be buried where her family was so my Uncle was buried near her. This left my cousin with 4 lots to get rid of. Problem, the cemetery charged to have the deeds transferred to the new owners. I remember it wasn't cheap and not easy to sell them after finding out that.
One of the problems with cemeteries buying them back is that the grief counselors won’t get paid unless it is a “new” sale and that’s often the contact person. It is a tough job they have. They might have authority to sell but not to buy lots.
If the lots are located in one of the chains, try contacting the corporate office to see if that level has an interest and make sure you are speaking with someone who can actually say yes.
You could also see who is buried near the lots to see if you can contact extended family who might want to be buried near their mom or dad.
You can search on FindAGrave and possibly read obits to see who those survivors might be.
I am surprised that the arrangements are transferrable.
Many of the National cemeteries are running short of space. It’s good you already have your dads space reserved by mom.
say "No" fast enough or often enough. I will add that the location is in the southern US. It would seem that there would be more of a demand in that area, but obviously not.
For what it's worth, in my case, the answer was no.
They didn't want any single plots, but you might have better luck with the pair.