Meno………..
Why you pay more if you wait to buy a plot when someone dies:
#1 you are at the most vulnerable point in your life. dealing with grief and overwhelmed with making plans.
If you need it fast you may be charged a premium for quick turn around, legal fees for deed, etc.
#2 An organization may hold you hostage for x number of years of membership dues, prepaid maintenance or perpetual care.
#3 You may not be prepared to lay out the required funds to by adjoining plots for other family members.
#4 Some cemeteries or associations allow plot owners to sell unwanted plots to the general public. These plots are often offered at prices well below what the cemetery’s current retail price. Chances are the owners (or their ancestors bought the plots years ago for a fraction of the going rate).
I posted above about the empty plots next to my maternal grandparents in Beth David..Elmont, LI, NY. My uncle is buried in Florida and my aunt will be interred next to him when the time comes. They have no descendants left in NY. The plots were purchased in 1967 for $500 each. If you try to buy direct from the cemetery today you pay more than $3000. Every year or so, my aunt runs a classified advt in a LI Anglo-Jewish paper offering the plots at her cost. Eventually, someone will decide that the price is a bargain, even if the plots are in a section for a Verein composed of Jews with roots in Bavaria. For you eastern European Jews…Verein is the Yekkische equivalent of a landsmannschaft