with cemetery brokerage business · cemetery brokerage business
LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Acquisitions Anonymous.
The hosts see the business as a durable, low-capex, relationship-driven marketplace with potential scarcity-driven pricing in Southern California. They also think it could be an attractive vertical integration target for an existing funeral or cemetery operator.
A cemetery plot brokerage can function like a local market maker because it sits between plot sellers, cemetery operators, and buyers who need current inventory and pricing.
The asking price of $2.9 million against $900,000 of EBITDA implies a roughly 3.2x multiple, but the listing's separate $2.1 million cash flow figure is suspiciously higher than EBITDA and deserves verification.
California residency requirements for the broker of record reduce the buyer pool and make the asset less portable than a normal brokerage.
A business with no inventory and no meaningful capex can still be compelling if it owns scarce market information and long-standing relationships.
The most natural buyer may be an existing funeral home or cemetery operator that can vertically integrate the brokerage function.
The hosts think burial plots are a real estate-like asset class where scarcity and location can create strong pricing power over time.
The business appears to have enough durability and local expertise to be a plausible SBA target, but the financials and transferability need diligence before anyone underwrites it.
The moat likely comes from decades of cemetery relationships and field sales knowledge rather than from technology.
The listing asked $2.9 million for a business showing $900,000 of EBITDA, implying about a 3.2x EBITDA multiple.
The hosts calculated the valuation from the BizBuySell teaser numbers.
The listing also showed $2.4 million of gross revenue and $2.1 million of cash flow, which the hosts said did not make sense relative to the EBITDA figure.
They questioned whether the cash flow number was misreported or defined unusually.
The brokerage was established in 1998 and focused mainly on Southern California.
The listing description framed the business as long-established and regional.
The business had 20 employees.
This was part of the broker teaser describing the operating footprint.
The listing said the broker of record must be a resident of California.
The hosts treated this as a meaningful constraint on who could buy the business.
The listing said the business could be a supplement to an existing cemetery brokerage or a fit for someone already in cemetery sales.
The hosts used this to infer that industry experience matters.
The cemetery exchange site mentioned in the episode charged a $100 one-time fee to list a cemetery property.
The hosts compared the low-fee classified-ad model with the higher-EBITDA brokerage being reviewed.
One Hollywood Forever Cemetery plot discussed on the exchange site was listed at $86,000 or best offer.
The hosts used that example to illustrate how valuable burial plots can be in premium locations.
Verify the relationship between cash flow and EBITDA before underwriting the deal.
Why: The teaser numbers appear inconsistent, and the valuation changes materially depending on which metric is real.
Buy this only if you can understand and preserve the existing cemetery relationships.
Why: The value appears to come from long-standing local connections rather than from generic brokerage skills.
Treat California residency and licensing constraints as a real sourcing filter, not a minor footnote.
Why: Those rules shrink the buyer pool and affect both transferability and exit options.
Look first at existing funeral home or cemetery operators as buyers.
Why: Vertical integration makes the most strategic sense for a business built around death-care relationships.
The hosts found a cemetery exchange listing for a Hollywood Forever Cemetery plot in Los Angeles priced at $86,000 or best offer. The example showed how a burial plot in a famous or scarce location can trade like premium real estate rather than a routine consumer purchase.
Lesson: In scarce, prestigious cemeteries, plot value can be high enough to support a real brokerage business.
Bill described comparing his grandfather's casket purchase from 20 years ago to his grandmother's and finding that the later casket cost about $500 less. He used the comparison to argue that the funeral industry often overcharges grieving families.
Lesson: The hosts strongly prefer businesses that serve customers without exploiting distress.