Dennis RomeroIt's usually about this time of year that you might start to wonder, What would it be like to live near a cemetery?
The L.A. area is rife with spectacularly spooky graveyards, from Hollywood Forever to Woodlawn near Santa Monica College, from Angelus Rosedale in Harvard Heights to Rose Hills in Whittier. Would you consider moving in next door?
A new look at cemetery-adjacent residences by real estate listings site Redfin finds that, if you're brave enough to stand up to the ghosts, you might end up with more valuable property.
The closer a home is to a cemetery, the higher its per-square-foot value will be, the site reports. However, houses near such establishments tend to be smaller, Redfin says.
Redfin analyzed the price of homes less than 50 feet from a cemetery, and compared those to the price of homes less than 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 yards away. The numbers indicate that on average, homes near cemeteries are slightly smaller, but sell for more per square foot. On average, homes closest to cemeteries sold for $162 dollars per square foot, whereas the homes located more than 500 yards away sold for $145 per square foot.
The firm looked at 90 U.S. metro areas with homes for sale near cemeteries from September to October to come up with its numbers.
Credit: Hollywood Forever via Jennifer Gaillard / LA Weekly Flickr pool.
Redfin agent Blakely Minton says cemeteries can be deal-breakers for some buyers but notes their appeal, too: ” … Cemeteries make very quiet neighbors.”
That could explain the values. Cemeteries in L.A. tend to be near some pretty stately homes, even if some of the neighborhoods, like the one around Rosedale, have had issues with crime.
Agent Lynn Ikle adds:
Like everything with home buying, there are pros and cons to living near a cemetery. The pros are that most likely there would be no chance of future development on the site of a cemetery, there is usually well maintained open space, it's quiet, and many cemeteries are picturesque. The cons would be that cemeteries give some people an uneasy feeling, as it represents mortality, and it might not be an area they want to 'live' next to everyday.
L.A., by the way, didn't make Redfin's list of “Cities Have the Most Homes for Sale Near Cemeteries.”
Guess we're not that spooky after all.
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