Publication: Wall Street Journal
Author: Anne Marie Chaker
Date: September 24, 2009
Article Excerpt:
For nearly 20 years, John Dotson planned to spend eternity at Block 29L, Lot 58, Site 1DD at Parklawn Memorial Park in Rockville, Md.
Heaven will have to wait. Plagued by a series of misfortunes at home, from job loss to multiple illnesses, Mr. Dotson has decided to put the double plot he had bought for himself and his wife up for sale. “Things got really tight,” he says, and his wife has come around to the idea of cremation.
He purchased the plot in 1990 for about $1,500, and though the cemetery now values it at $4,555, Mr. Dotson says he would gladly unload it for around $2,800.
As if the recession hasn’t ruined enough people’s plans in this life, it now seems to be disrupting the hereafter as well. Cemeteries and funeral-property Web sites report a burgeoning marketplace for the sale of burial plots by individuals, many of which have been in families for years. As times get tough, they are now being liquidated to make ends meet.