Frequent Questions

The short answer is, what ever it is worth. If you have read the rest of the site, you can probably guess that yours would not be the first funeral home that we have bought, or will buy, and that we like to take a no-nonsense straight forward approach in everything we do. We are not an "emotional" buyer, meaning we are not going to buy a funeral home at any price, just to say we own a funeral home. There are many former owners that had the embarassing task in their home towns of explaining high prices or a bankrupt firm that resulted from an unrealistic sales price.

A funeral homes value is based on the cash-flow it generates. The price is then dependant upon the terms the seller is offering(seller financing and/or non-compete agreement), the terms the lender is offering (interest rate and amortization). If a funeral home can not generate enough money to provide the buyer with a living wage and pay the mortgage based on the purchase price and terms, then the purchase price is to high. 

The best way for you to determine an approximate value for your business is to ask your CPA to figure out your average EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization) for the last 3 years. That number multiplied by 4 to 6 will give you a range that your business, including real estate, will probably sell for. While the EBITDA is easy to agree on, the multiple is where the "art" of valuation comes into play. If you have declining call volume and revenue, the roof needs to be replaced, your vehicles need to be replaced, you have a lot of competition, etc...you are going to be at the low end of the multiple scale. If you are in a newer facility, have newer vehicles, are the only one in town, and have increasing call volume, etc. you will be at the higher end of the multiple scale.