Funeral home deal comparisons
Most decisions in a funeral home sale come down to two or three options that look similar on the surface: a consolidator or a family buyer, selling the building or leasing it, an earnout or a fixed price. These pages put the options next to each other on the criteria that matter, with a worked example and a plain “choose this if” summary.
Each comparison ends with the mistakes we see owners and buyers make most often on that decision.
- Asset sale vs. stock sale for a funeral home
Asset sale vs stock sale funeral home deals compared: licenses, preneed, liabilities, consents, and taxes, with an after-tax example for S and C corporations.
- Selling to a public consolidator vs. a PE platform vs. a family buyer
Consolidator vs private equity funeral home buyers, plus family buyers: a side-by-side table of price, structure, legacy terms, and what each offer is worth.
- Keeping a consulting role vs. a clean exit after selling
Deciding whether to stay on after selling funeral home ownership? Compare consulting pay, taxes, control, lifestyle, and legacy against a clean exit, with math.
- Earnout tied to call volume vs. fixed price
Earnout vs fixed price for a funeral home sale: expected-value math with probabilities, discounting, who controls call volume, taxes, and when each one wins.
- Rural vs. suburban funeral home sale: buyer pool and pricing compared
Rural vs suburban funeral home value compared through two illustrative firms: calls, margins, buyer pool, SBA coverage limits, USDA rural loans, and sale terms.
- SBA 7(a) vs. seller financing for a funeral home purchase
SBA vs seller financing for buying a funeral home: rates, terms, cash needed, closing speed, SOP 50 10 8.1 standby rules, and payment math for four structures.
- Selling now vs. adding a crematory first
Should I add a crematory before selling? Compare capex, permit and ramp time, the multiple uplift a buyer may credit, and the dollar cost of a three-year delay.
- Selling the real estate vs. leasing it to the buyer
Should you sell or lease funeral home building space to your buyer? Compare after-tax sale proceeds with lease income NPV, tenant risk, financing, and tax.
- Traditional funeral home vs. direct-cremation business: economics compared
Direct cremation business profit vs. a traditional funeral home: revenue per call, labor, facility, marketing, margins, and how buyers price each model.
- Trust-funded vs. insurance-funded preneed: what buyers prefer and why
Trust vs insurance preneed compared for a funeral home sale: growth, risk, transfer steps, accounting, regulation, and shortfall exposure, with worked numbers.
- Funeral home with cemetery vs. standalone: combination value compared
How buyers set combination funeral home cemetery value: a numeric side-by-side with a standalone firm, perpetual care obligations, inventory, and buyer pool.
- Funeral home with crematory vs. without: valuation and buyer pool compared
How much does a crematory add to funeral home value? Funeral home with crematory value compared side by side with a firm that sends cremations out to trade.